Ranma/NiGHTS into Dreams;
by WFROSE
Summary: Spirits crushed under insecurities; weighed down by their own inadequacies. Ranma and Akane despair in the realm of dreams, but find the beginning of hope. Second Bet entry (Story Complete)
1. Prologue

The 2nd Bet  
  
'Into Dreams'  
  
Ranma/NiGHTS into Dreams crossover  
  
  
  
The more Toltiir thought about 'Foxie's' idea, the less he was beginning to like it. Having another bet would be a good way to shake out the conundrum of constant Ranma and Sailor moon mergers and crossings (Why in the infinite planes did that particular crossover tend to happen so often anyhow?), but the most grating thing about the situation was that the lesser spirits could enter. Keeping the Gods in line was bad enough, but now the workload was just going to overflow.  
  
The cat groused, as it felt the presence of something with way too little power for his tastes. "Goody, another one. So you think you can play with the big boys?"  
  
An androgynous character, dressed in a purple harlequin's outfit, with lush eyes that held a child's joy, and a knowing smirk of a wise man that knew the way and nature of things, glided towards its feline host. Spinning once, then bowing in a way an ostentatious showman would, the would-be entriest presented him/herself, and awaited acknowledgement. Toltiir cocked his head once he realized what type of spirit was before him.  
  
"Interesting, a dream spirit, Nightmeran I believe. What do you plan to do?" The dream spirit just shrugged in a jovial manner and gestured to the pool, awaiting the power boost that would provide him/her access...  
  
  
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Three weeks.  
  
It's been three weeks and the nightmares weren't easing any. Ranma rocked in a fitful slumber, disturbing imagery and words assailing him in the dream plane. No one in the household bothered to come check up on him, assuming it was just his usual reoccurring nightmare about cats at the times he shot up screaming. Most times he awoke frantically but silent, the despair he felt holding a lifeless girl in his hands, eyes closed to the world forever...  
  
  
  
No matter how hard he fought, and each night he dreamed he had fought harder than before, but he still failed her. Each time he would *just* get to the fountain and both would awash in the mystical waters, and each time her eyelids would twitch, but never flutter open. Her breathing would never return, her skin remained pasty, as a doll's.  
  
It was a despair that rotted the very core of Ranma Saotome; in his dreams he would die right with her, or at least he wanted to. Unfortunately he felt the sneers and looks of contempt upon his back; their taunts wrapping around him like a python crushing, and in paradox, sustaining his life.  
  
"Pathetic Ranma! You LET Akane die! She didn't deserve that, OR you!" An unfelt tear slowly trailed down the pigtailed boy's cheek, no matter how much he wanted to tune it out, he was going to be made to hear every word. "I should kill you for this, rip you to shreds and leave you as lifeless as the girl you failed," Sneered Ryoga, but then continued, "but you're not worth my rivalry. You're just as garbage to me."  
  
"Aiyah, Aire... Pigtail boy not strong as Shampoo thought," came an ironically perky voice that was tinged with consideration and contempt, "Shampoo happy to find out soon. Ranma too weak to marry strong womens."  
  
"The kiss of Marriage... is annulled," proclaimed a withered voice, as Cologne pogoed out of the darkness, her eyes emotionless and cold to Ranma, as if she was observing a specimen in a petri dish. "Come Shampoo, Mousse, it is time we returned. Let us leave this... boy... to his misery."  
  
Mousse looked like he was going to say something, but almost immediately his demeanor changed as he realized it just wasn't worth it. Bugs that small were to be ignored, not worth the energy to crunch them under the heel.  
  
"Shampoo ready, Spatula Girl can have weak male now."  
  
"Nu-uh, Sugar. I've already spent enough time on this two-bit loser. Feh, couldn't even save one of his fiancées, you think someone like that is worth bothering over? And he thought it was his curse that made him less of a man..."  
  
Ranma worked up the energy to speak, desperation in his voice like salt in the sea, "Ucchan, are-aren't we friends?" Everyone was beginning to abandon him, he needed someone.  
  
Ukyo strode up to him, her eyes shadowed, but her mouth pulled into a smirk and cheerfully said, "Why, Ranchan, who would want to be friends with trash like you?" With that she bent down and patted him on the back, then strode away, fading into the darkness with the Amazons and Ryoga.  
  
"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma," Kasumi was next to come into view from the darkness, followed by Nabiki. Kasumi wore her usual cheery smile, but it felt different, like the difference between the rays of the sun and the emptiness of the abyss, "and to think I cooked, cleaned, and looked after you for all this time. I'll now have time to do other things it seems.  
  
Nabiki's scowl spoke volumes. Her righteous anger combined with her usual countenance that made Ranma's Soul of Ice seem like a summer breeze. He could imagine the waves of mist flowing around her.  
  
"Ranma, you're not welcome into our house no longer. If I had known back then what I know now, I would have stayed sober the night I made that pledge with your father," Soun's voice was solemn and sterile of emotion as he spoke.  
  
"This... refuge is not my son," simply stated a speaking panda  
  
  
Others had shown up; Ranma's mother didn't even acknowledge him as he cried out for her attention as she walked by. Even if it was in demand that he commit seppuku for his failure, he just wanted her words. She continued by, her back straightened at his wails and she shifted the Saotome honor sword in her grasp; never bothering to turn back around. Kuno couldn't have sounded more contemptuous towards Ranma as his sister disclaimed him. Friends of Ranma and Akane's from school showed no fear as they told him exactly their feelings on the matter. All Ranma could do was sit still as the constricting feeling around him tightened with each venomous word hurled towards him. But the coupe de grace came from the rapidly cooling figure in his arms...  
  
"I should have known better than to believe in you."  
  
  
That was the point Ranma had woken up every time, but this time was different. Ranma felt a glimmer of something. Something that he thought had died when Akane never took another breath...  
  
Hope  
  
The pigtailed boy turned towards the direction he felt the now foreign seeming emotion originated. A pinprick of light, barely perceptible to his eye at first, began to grow, drawing a beam of light that turned into an illuminated path.  
  
Ranma looked back down at the body of Akane just in time to see it sifting from his grasp like sand. Everyone that had tormented him in his dream grew into ogres and devils, pointing and taunting the emotionally wounded boy as he felt the need to escape.  
  
Ranma dashed onto the path with all his might, knowing wherever it lead to would be much better than here. As he ran, the darkness around him warped into a primarily violet light show, with wisps of white lights flying about.  
  
Ranma found his destination just in front of him. The pinprick seemed like an exit, or an entrance to another place. Ranma desperately reached for it...  
  
  
________________________________________  
  
  
  
Akane dreamt of her prom. For several weeks after the last wedding incident, she had been preparing for it, and she looked dazzling. She nervously awaited her date for the night she was supposed to remember for the rest of her life.  
  
Ranma strolled down and lazily walked into the living room to sit in front of the TV. Akane would have been irked at his gall, if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't dressed to go.  
  
Slowly, extreme surprise was replaced by growing anger when she finally spoke, "Ranma, why aren't you ready for our prom?"  
  
The pigtailed boy looked towards Akane with a dumbfounded look, "Who said I was going to go with you?"  
  
Akane once again stood shocked, she had assumed...  
  
"Look at you, a tomboy all gussied up and ready to go, sorry but I got other plans."  
  
Akane paused, that sounded like one of his usual taunts, but there was something missing. No, replaced by... by contempt? The raven-haired girl focused on Ranma's face, and stepped back with a gasp. The expression there was totally alien to her from him, and she didn't know how to handle it. Ranma didn't look like his usual smug self after a shot at his fiancée; he looked more annoyed and contemptuous towards her.  
  
"Ranma, you jerk!" Even to her own ears, the words seemed to lose their potency as she brought her mallet out of hyperspace preparing to deliver her rightful vengeance. As soon as she brought it down to strike, without turning from the TV Ranma's hand snaked out and ripped it from her grasp and tossed it away. Akane shivered, realizing that he had NEVER done that before, and that he could have at any time.  
  
"My dear *little* sister, did you really think you could keep treating him like that and get away with it?" questioned Nabiki's voice behind her. Akane turned to see her look with an expression almost the same as Ranma's, except her eyes were laughing at her.  
  
"But, but, HE DESERVED IT!" Akane yelled indignantly, knowing that argument always won for her. This time though, it lacked its finalizing conviction.  
  
"Oh my, Akane, when will you grow up? In that dress you look just like a little girl playing princess," Kasumi's words were a bit confusing to Akane. She wasn't sure if she was being insulted, or if Kasumi was just being her usual aloof self.  
  
"Ha! Kitchen destroyer never grow up! She spoiled brat that can't cook, can't fight, can't..."  
  
Ranma's voice joined Shampoo's  
  
"...do anything right, built like a brick, thighs too thick..."  
  
Ukyo suddenly appeared and the three continued in chorus.  
  
"Ugly as a mule, twice as strong!"  
  
The trio and the rest of the Tendou family, Soun and Kasumi included, laughed, as tears streaked down Akane's cheek. Every insecurity she felt was brought to the forefront, along with the main one that cut the deepest.  
  
"Ranma, please..." Akane gasped, suddenly emotionally overwhelmed and desperately grasping for even the smallest bit of approval from Ranma.  
  
The pigtailed boy scowled at her and turned away, putting an arm over Shampoo and Ukyo, "Comon, you two, why don't we go and see what this prom thing is all about?"  
  
Suddenly all three of them were dressed in regal outfits. Akane looked around to see her sisters and her father wearing expensive dresses and suits, accompanied by everyone that would be at her Junior Prom. Akane realized that she also was in Furinkan High's gym, where the prom was to be held. Everyone seemed to be sneering at her before she caught the whispers of 'little girl' floating around.  
  
The raven haired girl looked down at her own gown, noticing that it lost its luster, and hung down on her like an old drapery. Her esteem dropped to danger levels as she turned with teary eyes away, looking for an escape.  
  
She pushed through the crowds of people who wouldn't spare her the courtesy or the effort to part for her, as her eyes caught a glimmer at the other end of the school gym-turned-dancehall. She fought furiously to reach the other end, the task seeming to be infinite as the gym seemed to fill with more people (she could have sworn she had seen many of the same people twice and even three times) and the gym grew longer.  
  
Finally, after enduring the gauntlet, she reached it, and the comforting light from the other end beckoned her... 


	2. 'The Start'

Ranma/NiGHTS Crossover  
  
"Into Dreams"  
  
  
  
  
  
Awake...  
  
Ranma let out a silent scream as he shot up from bed. He had escaped the torturous hell that his own mind submitted him to every night, since after they returned from battling the Phoenix Tribe and Saffron. The pigtailed boy shook in remembered horror and frustration; they had won, the now infantile demi-god wouldn't be a threat for years to come, if ever. Akane was safe and among the living, despite how close of a call it had come to, the status quo is back to where it should be in Nerima.  
  
Then why did he still feel damned?  
  
_____________________________________________  
  
  
Ranma drearily made his way down to breakfast, earning only a few concerned, yet terse glances from everyone else at the table.  
  
"Oh my, Ranma, are you okay this morning?" Kasumi enquired as she set the plates out for the morning meal.  
  
"I'm fine," Ranma lied, though as tired and bedraggled as he felt and sounded, it couldn't be disclosed if it were truth or not by anyone else.  
  
Everyone else that is, other than Kasumi. The eldest Tendou sister gave the young man a concerned look, before returning to the kitchen.  
  
Ranma looked around, and realized the absence of someone. He began to feel the panic that usually overcame him, the morning after the nightmare whenever he didn't see her almost instantly. Maybe it wasn't a dream after all, maybe he had failed the girl he lov... he deeply cared for.  
  
Hiding his nervousness, Ranma inquired, "Wha, where's Akane?"  
  
"She's in the bath still, I don't believe she had much sleep either," Soun stated, glancing over his newspaper.  
  
"Boy, have you been keeping your fiancée up all night?" Genma asked sternly, peering intently at his son, "because I fully endorse it!" The bald martial artist produced a pair of victory fans.  
  
"Oh, yes indeed! Though you may want to finish early on school nights, Ranma-kun," Soun threw in, only paying token attention to local matters.  
  
"Oh my, Ranma. I'm afraid that isn't proper behavior. You should at least wait until you're married!"  
  
Nabiki came down the stairs, dressed for school, and managed to catch the topic of conversation, "Or at least until prom night. You're off to a false start, Ranma."  
  
"Hah? Prom?" Ranma inquired, minutely confused from the morning fog in his head. Akane happened to walk in at that moment, and heard Ranma's inquiry. A pit in her stomach that she had barely noticed made itself apparent to her, emptying her insides in favor of a hollow feeling.  
  
"Yes, Prom, that big dance everyone in high school considers attending, that big dance that my dear little sister's been running herself ragged to prepare for? The one that's only three days off?" Nabiki continued to drop hints, after eyeing her younger sister's response.  
  
"It's okay, really, Nabiki," Akane interrupted, trying to sound nonchalant about it. Only a completely dense fool could miss the hollow tone in her obviously faked sanguine attitude.  
  
Ranma felt the anxiety leave him at Akane's voice; she was still with him. He then found it again once he saw Akane's face. There was a bit of disappointment there, from what, he could not place. It served to make him all that more nervous, "Is, is it because of me? What did I say this time?"  
  
"Something wrong, Akane?" he said, as if testing the waters of a boiling lake. Akane seemed like she had been jolted from a trance, and gave Ranma a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Ranma focused on her dual orbs, noticing a lack of luster; onyx in blue light that had failed to be polished.  
  
"I'm fine, Ranma, have you decided if you're going to go..." Akane's eyes flickered away from Ranma's intense gaze at them, "...or not?"  
  
Ranma looked around pleadingly for help, none would be given, as everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats for his answer. Ranma considered how Akane was acting, and found himself more than a little concerned.  
  
"I should have known better than to trust in you"  
  
Ranma blinked, and felt his chest clench, "What did you say, Akane?" His question was rather hesitant, and laden with a heavy undertone of weary caution.  
  
Akane perceived Ranma's inquiry as evading her own question. The girl gave a sigh, before speaking again, "Never mind, Ranma. I think you'd be bored with a normal school dance anyway." Akane sat down, as her oldest sister arrived with the morning meal.  
  
It was slightly more subdued around the table than previous, everyone seeming to absorb the atmosphere that was emanating from Ranma and Akane. It was common for the two to grouse, but there was something different. Akane didn't seem to fume as she usually did, and Ranma was extremely placid. Every so often the two would glance between themselves, each time just missing catching each other.  
  
"He... is he ignoring me?" Akane thought, looking back from her fiancée to her meal. Suddenly she wasn't hungry.  
  
"Excuse me..." Akane mumbled, removing herself from the table.  
  
Ranma looked up in slight panic, anxious over what he had done wrong, "Akane?"  
  
"I'm going on ahead to school," Akane replied, not turning to look at Ranma, "I'll see you there." Akane gathered her supplies, and headed for the front door, each step she took hammering something away in Ranma.  
____________________________________________  
  
Ranma knew he did something, but he couldn't figure out for the life of him what it was. It was apparent to him that he managed to hurt Akane, but whatever it was, she kept it close to the vest. Ranma watched his fiancée during lunch from a distance, as she talked with her group of friends. She didn't seem to contain her usual sanguine attitude; her smile was strictly cosmetic, her voice held a completely forced cheeriness. The pigtailed boy focused closer, he could almost see Akane becoming... smaller, in a withdrawn sense.  
  
Realization came to Ranma; he had to have done something truly terrible to do this to Akane. A reoccurring dream came to the fore of his mind, and began to hungrily eat further away at the seemingly infinite confidence of Saotome Ranma.  
____________________________________________  
  
Akane listened to her friends at the edge of her conscious. They were animated and vibrant, talking about their plans for the upcoming dance; a stark contrast to Akane, whose participation in the chatter of her friends was token at best. She imagined that they were silently noting her flaws, and though on an intellectual level she knew otherwise, she couldn't help but feel as if she were being found wanting.  
  
"I envy Akane; just imagine, Ranma in a tux!" one of the girls squealed excitedly.  
  
Akane refocused at the mention of her name. She had caught the sentence, and almost smirked at the memory of Ranma in a white tux, standing at the end of a wedding isle, awaiting her.  
  
Suddenly, Akane felt more elated than she had in weeks, since the dream started. Ranma was waiting for *her*! Not for Shampoo, not for Ukyo, but for her. It may have taken knocking him unconscious and dressing him while he was out cold...  
  
That's just it, wasn't it? Akane knew that he wouldn't have willingly gone through it... for her. He had to be forced into doing so through physical subduing and bribery (the bribe not mentioned until later notwithstanding). It wasn't for her benefit. Akane knew then, that Ranma couldn't possibly want her. Things had become calm between them, with their fathers no longer pressuring the two together. The other two fiancées were giving Ranma a good amount of berth, but Akane knew it wouldn't last for long. Ranma would forgive them, no doubt, and once again they'll begin to slowly impose themselves between Akane and him.  
  
"A-Akane? Are you okay?" Yuka drew the quietly sobbing girl into her arms, looking at her equally puzzled friends.  
  
Ranma would have been compelled to do something, if he were in the area at the time.  
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Throughout the rest of school, Ranma's deduction had been made completely valid in his mind. Everyone at school had looked upon him with cold eyes, condemning him for whatever crime he had committed against his fiancée.  
  
Akane's circle of friends formed a conclusion to the reason of Akane's breakdown; Ranma did something BIG. News, as usual about the couple, spread throughout the school. And again, as usual, everyone sided with Akane.  
  
Ranma kept his head covered on the desk, feeling almost as bad as when he had thought Akane dead back at Jusendo. He decided he would rather wallow in his own misery, than face any of the accusing stares that he was getting occasionally from his schoolmates. He had been used to them before, but with recent events, they hurt quite a bit more.  
  
Not too far, one person was elated at the state of affairs between Ranma and Akane. The girl with flowing brunette hair saw an opportunity appearing. She didn't quite know how to approach Ranma at the moment, but soon, he'll need a friend.  
  
Akane kept her head down, not wanting to see the pity in anyone's eyes. She had cracked, she couldn't help it. It was like a pressure on her heart had been increasing, until she couldn't help but give it outlet. All she could do was ride the rest of the day out, and then get home and relax, maybe some intense training will help steady her nerves. Nobody bothered Ranma or Akane through out the rest of the school day.  
__________________________________________  
  
"I'm home," Akane called out in a weary voice that told anyone paying attention how her day went.  
  
"Hello Akane, do you know what's wrong with Ranma? He came home rather upset," Kasumi called from the kitchen. Her little sister's mood hadn't been lost on her, and she presumed it might have been something shared between the two. A bit of prying may help clarify things.  
  
Akane didn't answer, worrying Kasumi even further. The eldest Tendou daughter stepped out from the kitchen to confront her little sister, and found her already heading upstairs.  
__________________________________________  
  
Ranma had holed up in his room, saturating it with his own angst. His worry had grown steadily since getting home. Everyone knew it was his fault now, he had heard Akane arrive, and was pretty sure that know Kasumi was privy to whatever Ranma did to thoroughly upset her. Eventually the whole household would find out, he wouldn't stop it, he knew he had failed her, and deserved whatever beratement they would throw upon him.  
  
Saotome's confidence continued to dwindle.  
__________________________________________  
  
Brooding in his room had gotten old, but he wasn't ready to face Akane just yet. Ranma steeled himself out the door, just in time to meet face to face with Akane heading downstairs in her gi.  
  
"Ra-Ranma..."  
  
"Akane..." neither knew what to say after that, a palette of emotions thrown precariously onto a canvas, and displayed upon their faces. Akane was the first to find her voice.  
  
"I... I have to go train," with that, the young girl quickly headed down stairs. Ranma raised a hand in consideration of stopping her, to find out what he had done wrong, but he just couldn't deal with any of the anger, betrayal, or sadness that his fiancée may feel.  
  
Akane berated herself for running. She needed to confront Ranma, because the uncertainty was slowly consuming her. She needed to desperatly, but she wouldn't dare face the contemptuous look that he could have; looking down at the half-rate play martial artist that seemed to believe he had some sort of intrest in her.  
  
He quietly went back into his room, and didn't bother to come out for dinner. Akane practiced until it was time for bed.  
__________________________________________  
  
Akane lay in bed, fighting sleep, and berating herself for it.  
  
"Ugh, it's just a stupid dream. Why is it bothering me so much?"  
__________________________________________  
  
"Look at me, scared of a stupid dream, the great Ranma Saotome," Ranma thought snidely, staring up at the ceiling of his room. "Yeah, great. I can't even keep myself from hurting Akane" His thought became cooler and more agonizing the longer they went, "Maybe she's better off without me..."  
  
Neither Akane, nor Ranma would know the time they finally submitted to slumber.  
___________________________________________  
  
Akane pushed her way through the thick prom crowd, trying desperately to reach the light. They were much more dense than before, and their taunts and jeers felt much more deeply cutting than last time. Akane forced her growing insecurity down, and continued to swim through the ocean of people between her and her goal.  
  
Finally, after much trial, she ran into the blue light that beckoned her like a savior.  
___________________________________________  
  
Ranma fiercely fought off his father, Ryoga, Cologne, Happosai, and others that impeded his run for sanctuary, the light that lay just beyond him in a slight distance. He failed Akane, but something told him that he would find salvation if he could just reach the light. Akane had already scorned him in her death, but he would keep fighting for her. Slowly dragging the chain he was wrapped in, and fighting against the combined might of his foes trying to drag him back towards misery; Ranma stumbled through the portal to another realm.  
___________________________________________  
  
Ranma/Akane found him/herself in a land that was so breathtaking. The beach/flowered field Ranma/Akane found him/herself in left the pigtailed boy/raven-haired girl in awe. It was a glorious contrast to his/her prior predicament that almost seemed to wash away his/her current pains. Ranma/Akane noticed his/her attire, he/she was wearing his favorite red and black outfit/ her school uniform, and found that there wasn't anything else he/she would have preferred to wear. Ranma's/Akane's observations were cut off as they noted a squad of fantastic creatures heading their way, beings only found on the edge of a dream. Ranma/Akane looked for a direction to flee, and saw on a sandy dune/flower dressed hill a parasol with a harlequin that seemed to be trapped within it.   
  
The jester's large and expressionate eyes pleaded with Ranma/Akane, as it spun around and flipped in its confinement, ignoring the laws of physics as a dream only can. Ranma/Akane rushed/wearily approached it; the pigtailed boy/short-haired girl knew it was his/her duty to help those in need. Without hesitation/with heavy caution, Ranma/Akane attempted to punch through/reached out a hand to feel the barriers of the captive's confinement. To his/her surprise, Ranma's/Akane's fist passed right through it/hand pushed easily through it, causing/allowing him/her to stumble forward/push her arm through. The harlequin quickly reached for Ranma's/Akane's outstretched fist/hand...  
  
The jester's voice sang akin to a whistle with an optimistic tune, as it shot into the air, spinning in gleeful and joyous freedom.  
_______________________________________  
_______________________________________  
_______________________________________  
  
Prepare to Fly 


	3. Akane's first Dream; 'The Befriendment'

Ranma/ NiGHTS into Dreams  
  
"Into Dreams'  
Akane's first Dream; The Befriendment  
  
  
  
Akane attempted to laugh, but her voice had caught in her from the overwhelming feeling of excitement. The exhilarating feeling of flight had taken her so fully; all her troubles of the waking world had been left on the ground. Akane barrel rolled as fast as she could, then shot straight up into the air, then sharply dropped down, flipping herself to her upright position before she hit the ground.  
  
She had now taken a look at her environment; it was, so simply yet eloquently put, beautiful and surreal. She rose higher into the air to see more. If the feeling of flying left her breathless...  
  
Mountains that stretched to the crystalline blue and sparsely clouded sky surrounded the massive flower field filled with oversized daffodils and sunflowers. In the midst of it all, a mighty pine tree stood in the center, pristine and as perfect as any such tree could be found. Erasers for pencils rubbed out any flaws that could be seen about. Akane wanted to giggle when one of the erasers approached her, orbited around her, and zoomed on it's way, but found her laugh a lyrical and pleasant cluster of bell chimes and whistles.  
  
Akane scrunched her face, as a flower pedal that was for a peculiar reason falling from the sky landed against it. She couldn't comprehend why the sight of such beautiful things that dwindled to the earth below upset her slightly.  
  
Akane looked down upon herself. Her sleeves were cuffed with yellow and violet triangles, like the strange jester's attire she had seen only a few instances ago. She looked further down and saw herself in a leotard of matching violet, with the legs muffed in a lighter purple and blocked off at the top of the foot to the heel with a yellow tracing line. It was vested in purple at the chest with four yellow stars, two at each side. What really caught the transformed girl's attention was the glowing purple gem in her chest. Akane spun in the air, trying to look about herself to fully view the changes on her.  
  
Before Akane could contemplate the transformation, she heard weeping. Akane looked up to see one of the fantastic creatures she had seen earlier, a small alligator with wings of a large fly, heading towards her. Akane lifted into the air quickly, as the creature got within range to attack. Like a darting fly, the beast quickly changed direction to cut her off. Akane looped back, just barely missing her foot being bitten off. To her surprise, a black hole appeared from where she had looped, swallowing her pursuer and placing it in parts unknown. Akane imagined she blinked, and smiled. The transformed girl made several more loops; sounds of shifting air accompanied the portals she created.  
  
Akane decided to take more joy out of her flying, dancing precariously in the air without care, before she felt an urge, like another part of herself telling her she had tasks elsewhere. Akane looked off into the distance, and saw a rose pink sphere of radiance, trapped in a glass floating dome. It was slowly shrinking and losing it brilliant vibrancy, and Akane knew that the dome was siphoning it away until it was a withered shadow of what it used to be. Akane knew she had to stop it.  
  
Akane dashed in the air towards the objective, delighting in the speed she traveled through the air, weaving through the floating mandalas, and indulging in the twinkle of the bells she touched. She reached the dome, and pushed as hard as she could, finding that the smooth glass would not budge. She resorted to pounding on it, and it remained just as stubborn. Akane backed off from the dome with a spin. From its reflection she saw her face. She had become the strange being she had found in the parasol. The soft and friendly eyes looked back at her with a twinkling of mirth, which seemed out of place from the comically small mouth she had that presently formed an 'o' from her surprise. Akane couldn't resist the urge to take her index fingers and stretch her mouth apart, wagging her tongue at the reflection. After a fit of bell twinkling giggles, Akane went back to the task at hand, finding a way to destroy the dome that held the beautiful orb of energy.  
  
A thought came unbidden to the fore of her mind, "a song of joy will shatter the dome of sorrow." Akane didn't know what the reference was referring to, but rationalized that she needed to find a song. In the distance, a faint melody made itself known, and the girl-turned-harlequin flew in the direction it originated to investigate.  
  
Akane found herself much more hindered by the mountains in her flight, but still almost effortlessly maneuvered through them. She found herself opposed to more creatures, such as a badger with grasshopper hind legs, and dealt with them in the manner she had learned; looping them and sending them into the black oblivion.  
  
Akane cleared the mountains and dropped down low, skimming over the rolling sea of grass and flowers. A trail of flower petals that were spurred up from flowers was left in her wake, dancing in the air in the motions the wind currents lead them. She was approaching the sound of what appeared to be a violin playing en solo, but off key and in broken notes. She quickly hit breaks at the sight of who was playing the instrument rather poorly; a redheaded girl in a pink and flowery dress sitting cross-legged on a log in front of a dark and untidy looking fortress. Akane cautiously floated down to confront this dream Ranma-chan, when the girl noticed her and giggled, and then gestured to the violin she was holding.  
  
Before Akane could respond, Ranma-chan laughed and started to run away. Akane blinked, then gave chase after the other girl. The farther she ran, the larger she became until she was overwhelmingly large. Akane noticed that the inside of the building was a long corridor of interweaving willow trees and leaking plumbing. Vaguely she could hear "do you want to be friends?" whispered in the background.  
  
Suddenly, the giant Ranma-chan giggled and spun, flaring the skirt of her dress out and sending pansies and wilted yellow roses flying through the air. Akane dodged and weaved through the barrage, attempting to get close to the girl.  
  
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranma-chan cried out in a surreal voice, her oversized fists blurring beyond the visible realm. Akane fought against the wind generated from the attack, trying to keep stable in the air. As valiant as she fought, Akane couldn't help but be pushed into a wall made of faulty lead piping and sickly tree branches. She managed not to touch it, but felt the heat from it. Akane's already enlarged eyes opened wider, and her face became akin to a child's wonder and surprise; there was hot water in the pipes. She looked around and saw several valves that were slightly leaking, possibly extremely weak.  
  
Akane smirked as she got her bearing straight, the trick may not be to attack this mock Ranma-Chan directly.  
  
Ranma-chan started to run gleefully away again, sporting away the violin in her grasp. Akane caught up with the large redhead, and flew right past her. Ranma stopped and blinked in confusion, watching her playmate shoot past her instead of trying to take the musical instrument away. Akane flew into a valve, putting her hands forward, and breaking it off.  
  
Ranma-chan yelped in surprise, dodging out of the way of the steaming stream of water that shot towards her. She spun again, flaring her dress and sending flowers flying about. The pansies altered the course of the jet of hot water, no longer making it a danger to the girl.  
  
Akane now knew the girl was afraid of the hot water. She rammed into another valve, and once again Ranma dodged it, but this time much more narrowly. She again spun about, sending flowers around to protect her, and called out her attack to impede Akane. The harlequin would not be deterred, as she coasted against the wind and rammed another valve. Ranma just barely dodged it, and spun more flowers out. Again she was protected, but it was apparent she was now trapped, and running out of maneuvering room. Akane looked around, and plotted her next move. She quickly rammed another valve, ricocheting off and ramming another one, which in turn sent her on another course into a third valve. Ranma-chan managed to dodge the first two streams, but was enveloped by the third.  
  
With a squawk of surprise, the girl dropped the violin. Akane swooped in and caught the instrument when it shrunk to size, and turned to see what happened to the other girl. In her place stood a handsome young man in a pigtail, nodding to her with a smirk, before fading away.  
  
Akane looked around again, finding herself back in the flower field again. Without hesitation, she flew with the violin towards the dome in the distance. When she arrived, she felt the violin stir by itself. Startled, Akane let go of it, and it began to play. Its song was beautiful, uplifting Akane's mood even more as the concert of the single instrument went on. Under the melody, the dome began to buckle, then crack, then finally shatter; allowing the rose pink ball of energy to expand, and envelope the area...  
__________________________________________  
  
Akane turned on her side and smiled slightly in slumber, feeling better than she had in a while.  
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The next morning, Akane felt more refreshed then she had in a while. Akane took her bath and headed for the table for breakfast. This time it was her who noticed someone was missing from the table.  
  
"Uh, where's Ranma?" Akane enquired, trying not to sound too concerned.  
  
"He said something about having to go to the Cat Cafe. He needed to talk with one of the Amazons.  
  
"Oh," Akane replied in a small voice, Ranma must have gone to see Shampoo. With her sigh, a tiny ember of the negative feeling she originally felt began to grow again within her heart.  
  
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure you noticed the sheer amount of symbolism in this now, and as to the reason this will probably be an Akane/Ranma matchup. As to what the symbolism means, and how it is implied, I'll leave it to you guys to discuss until I decide to post the expanations later (yeah, I know I suck, but some of you gotta learn to think for yourselves, and a lot of it isn't that complicated)  
  
Ranma's dream is next. 


	4. Ranma's first Dream; 'The Affection'

Ranma/NiGHTS into Dreams  
'Into Dreams'  
Ranma's first dream; 'The affection'  
  
  
  
Ranma exalted in the feeling he hadn't felt since he was so young, before that fateful training trip. The incredible feeling that he was experiencing, as he soared as high as he wanted into the air, then dropped down low to just barely skimming the sands of the beach.  
  
Ranma glided the loose sand , idly noting the bare footprints appearing in the sand from invisible feet , and finding it curious that there were no seashells on the beach. He rose into the air, allowing a stampede of eleven pale horses to run where he had been flying. A black horse trailed behind them, intensely trying to catch up, Ranma felt sympathy for it as it raced on.  
  
Ranma glanced at the mingled white and red coral reef that jutted from the waters, while weaving through the unfinished houses that floated in the air. Ranma began to consider where he was; it seemed so familiar, like he had come here for a task. Fortunately, a voice inside reminded him of what he needed to do.  
  
Ranma didn't go far before something caught his eye. A cluster of musical notes floated in the air, which Ranma sped towards and collected in one fail swoop. A small contented feeling told Ranma that he was doing what he had come here for.  
  
Doing a tight loop in the air, Ranma shot to the ground. He stopped as he heard a 'shooping' sound, like air rushing to fill a vacuum behind him. Putting the mystery off, Ranma set to his task of finding a song that he could vaguely recall. He felt himself directed back to the sandy shore, meandering around the pieces of a large western game he recalled by the name of 'Chess' , and also noted that the invisible players were cheating severely in it . The event earned a chuckle from Ranma, who immediately hushed himself once he noticed the sound of it; like tiny bells and pan flutes. His laugh also attracted another, a gargoyle that had been perched atop one of the immobile chess pieces. It made a beeline for Ranma, who caught its approach and went to guard immediately.  
  
The creature approached, and then dove for Ranma, who easily circled around it, finding the Saotome School of martial arts humorously appropriate in this combat. Ranma now got to see the phenomenon that the rushing air sound succeeded, as the gargoyle gave an indignant howl to being sucked into a pit formed from Ranma's loop in mid air. Ranma warily approached the spot, puzzled to where it had disappeared.   
  
Again, an instinct within him told Ranma that he needed to hurry. Putting his newfound speed to the test, Ranma rushed off on a seemingly predestined path. Ranma floated between the chess pieces, avoiding their moves and collecting scattered music notes as he came across them with haste. Ranma encountered another one of the gargoyles, and dealt with it in the same manner as the other before. Ranma also found that looping around the notes attracted them to him, making their collection much easier.  
  
The trail of notes lead from the shore to the crests, Ranma danced and flitted to avoid the waves from the sudden turbulent waters that matched the suddenly turbulent skies above. Ranma carefully avoided being swallowed into the water, collecting musical notes that were placed high and low, here and there. On top of having to watch for the high waves, the martial artist turned harlequin was forced to evade giant leaping carp that were intent on having him as a meal.  
  
As if it grew extremely irritated at it's lack of success towards hindering the flying harlequin, the ocean rose into a massive tidal wave that rolled towards Ranma. The harlequin's eyes went wide as it saw the giant wave rise above him and began to descend upon him. Ranma felt himself swallowed in it, finding it impossible to gain his bearings as he was thrown about in the tumbling, angry water, he had began to despair as he was thrown head over heals, unable to recover himself. Without even realizing it, Ranma found himself surfing the massive wave on an anchovy that acted like a surfboard . Ranma maneuvered the crest, managing to collect the musical notes that were hung inside, all the time dodging the leaping carp that attempted to impede his way.  
  
Before the wave crashed onto the shore, Ranma flew out from under it, performing barrel rolls in celebration of escaping such a potent trial. He once again spotted the black horse he had seen prior, but this time it was so far behind the rest that it almost had no hope of catching up. Ranma felt almost guilty because of this, but decided that the black horse really didn't belong with the rest of the pale horses.  
  
Ranma flew towards a massive but ruined sandcastle , and set to explore it. Miniature cannons fired at him, though they were not a threat to one who could precariously drift in the air between the mauve cannon balls. Though the artillery was hostile, the drawbridge descended, seeming to beckon Ranma into its maw. Never one to disappoint, Ranma entered, unhindered.  
  
Ranma was surprised to see the insides of the castle made of mirrors, that reflected everything normally, except himself, which his reflection was in various colors . He found himself quite angry at the yellow reflection .  
  
Ranma flew through out its chambers, the mirrors warping as he flew by them, causing an aesthetic and pleasing ripple in them. Ranma noticed that though the space around him seemed empty, if he looked in the mirrors, he would see many musical notes, and when he looped their general area, they would appear and be gathered by the vortex for his collection.  
  
"Impressive, Son-in-law. Your tactical mind seems to meet no bounds."  
  
Ranma stopped flying, and looked around, only to find no one there. He wanted to call out for whom he knew it was to show herself, but felt deeply chagrinned at the sound of his voice at the moment.  
  
"I'm right here, Groom." Ranma turned and looked towards a mirror, and saw almost cat-like Cologne riding on a crane .  
  
"Or perhaps I'm right here?" Ranma turned to see another Cologne on a crane in the mirror opposite the one he was just looking at.  
  
"Maybe even here," Ranma looked up at the ceiling in surprise, "I guess now this is the part where I am supposed to keep you from your goal, you prepared?" Ranma flew back a couple of feet warily. Cologne chuckled and faded from the mirror.  
  
With out so much a warning, Ranma instinctually dodged a miniature tornado that flew horizontally towards him. He turned towards its origin in time to see Cologne smile and fade from the mirror. Ranma again dodged another tornado, and didn't even bother to pause, as he flew full tilt towards the mirror it originated from. Cologne barely had time to fade out as Ranma ran into the mirror she was currently in, causing it to indent, then spring forwards, sending Ranma flying away. Ranma's attempt at catching Cologne did not go unrewarded, as Cologne was spit out of the mirror and into the open.  
  
Ranma moved to attack her, when suddenly, Cologne split into two, then four then six. Ranma found himself surrounded by a dozen Colognes riding cranes, circling around him and brandishing their staffs menacingly, he doubted the chicken leg would work once again.  
  
Ranma remembered that he could fly, and flew straight up, much to his chagrin, the cranes began to flap their wings, and the circle of Colognes rose with him. He flew around, trying to make it difficult for the old woman to attack him while circling around him, and in a fit of desperation, looped. Many of the circle of Colognes were caught in the vortex, causing them to vanish, leaving the real Cologne present. The old woman quickly ran the crane towards a mirror, but didn't make it in time, as Ranma ran full tilt into the back of her. With a squawk, the Amazon matriarch was sent flying off the giant bird, and into the mirror.  
  
Ranma flew in circles, anticipating an attack. Once again, a vortex of wind flew towards him, and he evaded. This time Cologne faded immediately after creating it, and Ranma grit his teeth, waiting for another attack. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma saw Cologne reappearing in a mirror right before she could begin another attack. As Cologne started to spin her staff towards Ranma, she gasped as the harlequin started to fly straight for her. Cologne ceased her attack and tried to fade from sight, but once again didn't make it before Ranma rammed the window.  
  
Cologne learned from the past, and used the momentum of the springing mirror to launch herself towards the one across it. Ranma had managed to recover in the air, and with a start forward on the old woman, created a loop that completed once she reached its center.  
  
Cologne's eyes went wide, as she was absorbed into the vortex in space, and chuckled, "Not bad, not bad at all Son-in.... Ranma." With that, she vanished.  
  
Ranma quickly approached the spot he had seen the elderly Amazon disappear in, making sure that she had indeed disappeared. The harlequin felt something warm about him, and looked around to see musical notes floating from him. Ranma turned to see a giant music sheet, devoid of any music on its scales. The musical notes Ranma collected flew quickly towards the sheet, and covered it. Once they were all in position, music began to play from what sounded like a music box, replicating what was on the sheet. As the music played, everything began to go white...  
________________________________________  
  
Ranma grinned, and snuggled a bit more comfortly into his pillow, content that the rest of the night would be peaceful.  
________________________________________  
  
Ranma woke up much more early than usual, for some reason feeling so much more refreshed than he had in days. Though he felt quite a bit relaxed, his mood darkened a bit at the dream he recalled from last night. He was going to have to have a little chat with a certain Amazon Elder.  
  
Ranma got dressed, and gave a curt 'good morning' to Kasumi, as he ran out the door, not even giving the eldest Tendou daughter time to return the greeting.  
  
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Well, it should be fairly obvious that this thing's littered with a whole nother story in it, anyone figure it accuratly enough? I wouldn't mind hearing *intelligent* interpretations of these dreams either. 


	5. Second Intermission

Ranma/ NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
  
  
  
  
Ranma rushed out of the house with his school supplies in hand, and in a single bound from near the front door, he was on the wall of the dojo grounds; with another leap, he was carried over to a nearby roof and sprinting towards his destination.  
  
There was something about his dream last night, something just too peculiar about it. It may have been the fact that it was the first break he had gotten while he was asleep. Instead of the slumbering in a nightmare built from his own self-conciousness, concerns, and fears, it brought him different emotions.   
  
He felt exillaration far beyond anything other than the art had been possible to him. He *felt* the wind caress him as he danced in the sky, he experienced a gleeful joy only the naive innocent should be able to experience as the dream reality's beach sun washed his transmorphef form, regardless of the turbulant dangers that saught to end his slumber prematurely.  
  
The pigtailed boy stopped, just as he reached the edge of the roof, how did he know they were attempting to wake him up? He actually didn't realize that he was aware of the consequences if their attempts were successful.  
  
The though of the final one he had to face brought him back to his current task. Cologne must have had some knowlege of what this was all about; the dream he could feel was laiden with hidden meaning and subtle truths that he needed to face; she should be able to shed some light on it. The final part that was the confrontation with the Amazon Elder riding a large bird did prove one thing; a confrontation between him and the old Ghoul was coming.  
  
Ranma leapt much higher than nessesary, finding a small satisfaction in the elavation that was but a small twinge of what he had found in his dream. Almost like the sweet mild scent of jasmine tea with a touch of honey before the initial soothing sip on a crisp winter day. The burst of emotion gave him an energy that asserted his confidence in a way he had been missing since after the wedding. Ranma landed with a running start, speeding as fast as possible and savoring the rush of air by him, and then once again jumped into the air like he was attempting to soar among the clouds.  
  
Among the experience, Ranma hadn't noticed that the weights that had bound him down were missing. In fact, if he had been paying attention, he would have stopped himself from the embarrasing, childish giggle he was emitting.  
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"HEY! OLD GHOUL!" Ranma shouted, as he strode into the front door of the Cat Cafe.  
  
"Ranma!" a femenine voice that was heavily accented with Mandarin called out. Barely without notice, Ranma dodged the lavender projectile with unconcious ease; something that took said projectile by surprise, as she found herself having to recover into a roll to arrest her momentum..  
  
"OLD GHOUL, I NEED TO TALK TO YA !" Ranma called out, and once again surprising an Amazon, by dodging the downswing of a knarled cane.  
  
"Hmm, good reflexes, Son-in... Ranma," Cologne stated, as she came to resting on her cane, "What brings you by this time of morning? I believe you have school not too soon."  
  
"What do you know about dreams?" Ranma asked, his voice losing the sanguine lilt along with his bearing.  
  
Cologne took a moment of pause to consider the question, before replying, "That is a complicated subject, and although I have much in the way of knowlege, I'm not a trained psychologist in the least. Am I to presume that you have something rather complex to discuss?"  
  
Ranma nodded, ignoring the purple haired girl stalking up behind him.  
  
"Why Ranma dodge Shampoo?" The young Amazon whined, "You avoid Shampoo for too, too long!" Shampoo launched herself at Ranma, and found herself evaded again.  
  
"Yeah, it was a pretty weird dream, and you were in it," Ranma stated, his voice not showing any form of exertion, as he continued to dodge away from Shampoo's attempted glomps.  
  
"Ranma, don't you think I'm a little too old for you?" Cologne replied with a teasing tone.  
  
Ranma slightly only baulked at the implication, "Nothing like that, you were riding a giant bird, A stork or something, and trying to attack me, while going in and out of these mirrors."  
  
Cologne paused once again, "That isn't much more peculiar than any dream I have ever heard. Is there some circumstance that brings you to me to discuss this?"  
  
"Well, you were attacking me in it, and..." Ranma trailed off, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.  
  
"And you presumed I had something to do with it?" Cologne enquired with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Well, yeah. I mean, it could have been some sort of Amazon trick of yours, to get me to marry Shampoo, I guess," Ranma replied, while lifting one of his legs high into the standing splits, that caused Shampoo to barely pass by him.  
  
"RANMA HOLD STILL!" Shampoo screeched, and then resumed her attempts to snuggle against her beloved's chest. Cologne's eyes narrowed slightly at Ranma's cavalier fashion of avoiding her heir.  
  
"Ranma, I do not go out of my way to make your life uncomfortable," Cologne answered, "Take advantage of situations, yes, but never exert much energy towards you. I want what's best for my Great Granddaughter, and she seems to want you. You can forgive an old woman wanting to make her Great Grandchild happy?"  
  
"RANMA! HOW DARE YOU TEASE SHAMPOO SO?!?"  
  
"Ah, I guess," Ranma replied before tilting his head and grabbing one of the chains launched at him, and then twisting to pull it into an arc that sent the person holding the other end into a wall, just under a heavy shield that fell on top of the myopic boy's head. Cologne used her staff to parry the other projectiles launched after her and Ranma with barely acknowleging their presence, while Shampoo just hid behind Ranma. "Anyhow, you got an idea what was going on there?"  
  
"I cannot say that I have a clue," Cologne said with a slight smirk.  
  
"Well, I guess it's not important anymore, since you said you didn't use any funky Amazon tricks to cause it, I just wanted to be sure." Ranma turned to Shampoo with an irritated expression, causing the girl to stop her latest attempt only inches from his face, "WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT?!?"  
  
"You're awfully trusting, Ranma," Cologne replied, warily, the pigtailed boy turned away from Shampoo's bewildered expression and shrugged, "But if you're willing, we could discuss this further before your classes?"  
  
"Ah, afraid I gotta get to school now, sorry to bother you!" Ranma replied, dashing out of the Cat Cafe.  
  
Cologne waited until she was sure Ranma was out of earshot, and then sighed, "It was a crane, not a stork." She had not missed the cavalier way that Ranma evaded Shampoo, instead of freezing up as he usually did during her advances. It seemed as if the boy was starting to sort his feelings out, which probably didn't bode well for her Great Granddaughter.  
  
The elder Amazon then went back to her restauranting duties, leaving a bewildered Shampoo standing and wondering what brought on Ranma's reaction to her affections.  
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Akane kept ther thoughts off of Ranma as she walked to school. The dream she had last night made her feel more alive than she could ever recall. The sudden onrush of emotions when she came into contact with that jester that seemed to be trapped were not unpleasant. Her feelings of insecurity were replaced by vibrant expressions of joy, infinite laughter, and all consuming warmth. Even now, she could almost savor the happy feelings paint vibrant colors over the dark gray canvas that she held inside. The raven-haired girl relished in the mere shade of what she had experienced, and still it brought a slight smile to her face.  
  
"It's good to see that you're smiling again, Akane!" Sayuri stated behind the girl, almost causing Akane to jump in startlement.  
  
"Huh? Well, I had a nice night."  
  
"Oh? You get back at Ranma for whatever he did to you yesterday?" Yuka asked from the other side, and then broke into a grin "Or did he finally ask you to the prom?" Both companions notice Akane's expression immidiately darken.  
  
"A-Akane, Where's Ranma anyhow? Don't you usually walk with him to school?" Sayuri enquired, not particularly noticing that she may be stepping onto turbulant lands.  
  
Akane bowed her head, not allowing the other two girls to see the hurt that bled black ink over the lovely canvas that she had been indulging. After a few moments, she managed to gather herself, "Ranma? That jerk went to the Cat Cafe this morning, not that I care."  
  
Akane suddenly bolted, leaving two confused girls. They hadn't bothered to move, as they were trying to figure out why Akane's outburst sounded of feigned emotion.  
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"Hmph, they've already discovered what needs to be done, your plans to hinder the two failed considerably," A phantom-like woman wearing fine velvet burgundy and teal robes with shock red hair that stood out like a cone from the back of her head. She turned to meet with a jester, one garbed in violet and red with a porcelyn painted face.  
  
Reala turned back to the woman that stood over him like an ancient oak to a sapling, even while sitting, "Patience, we did not expect to subdue either of them in the first try, though it would have been nice if we had. NiGHTS assuradly knew enough to keep us from a quick victory."  
  
Zmartwan, the younger sister of Wizemon, turned her blank, featureless face to the harliquin, and spoke in a voice that was heard everywhere, but came from nowhere, "My patience is not finite. I will succeed with my older brother had failed. He lacked the proper might to control all of Nightopia, and with these two subjects, I will have the key to a compatible power that would allow me to subdue any resistance. I want them both adequately quelled so that we may use the boy to syphon the source of his curse energy."  
  
"Yes, Reala is well aware of your plans to use the boy as a direct line to Jusenkyo's energy." Another jester wearing a parka and gloves of all red; his arms, legs, or neck could not bee seen, as if they were invisible or just not there. He casually flipped a trio of playing cards in his hand, before continuing, "And for what has been promised us, we'll do everything we can to ensure that it does not fail."  
  
"See to it that it does not," Zmartwan replied coldly, "As it will be your turn to make an attempt at the boy. I will see to the girl myself."  
  
"Oh, and I have just the way to deal with Ranma," Jackyl smirked sinisterly, and flipped a playing card over to view it's face. It was an ace of spades, with the spades being mini spactulas.  
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Ranma sat in bed, wondering why Akane had avoided him all day, even going as far to switch places with Kasumi at the dinner table so that she wouldn't sit next to him. The sanguine mood he had felt earlier during the day after his confrontation with Cologne had melted away. Ironic, since it was his fiancee's rather cold shoulder which caused it.  
  
The pigtailed boy sighed for another day, and decided that his thoughts could be left for another time. Just like Akane had not too many minutes prior, Ranma laid his head down to rest for the night, anxiously anticipating, and deeply fearing, what dreams may come. 


	6. Akane's second Dream; 'The Hope'

Ranma/NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams  
Akane's Dream ; The Hope  
  
  
  
  
A purple streak zoomed to the heavens, and looped around before coming to a stop. Akane turned around, her eyes alight at the scene around her. Dazzling lights lit a dusk sky. Various fair rides cluttered the ground, and were running regardless of no one to maintain or ride them.  
  
To her sight, the carnival seemed to go on forever into the distance, and unfortunately, she knew off in the distance is where she had to go. Akane started to fly foward, only to have a balloon rise and push her off-course. The sky had suddenly grown thick with the rising balloons that attempted to hinder her.  
  
Fortunately, they were not as thick closer to the ground, so the harlequin took the lower route, while weaving and looping around the balloons. She reached near ground level, and darted over the blue road and around the rides. Akane stopped at a merry-go-round, looking curiously at the cone-headed cherubs that giggled with joy, as they rode around in circles. Akane found herself chuckling at the cute sight, and barely noticed the weeping coming behind her.  
  
She was too late to avoid the aligator creature bumping into her, and nearly sending her sprawling along the ground...  
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Akane lay peacefully in her sleep, a smile adorning her face that came easily in dreams than it did during the day. Suddenly, she twitched, and her smile faded.  
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The harlequin blinked, when she felt a haze pass over her suddenly. It was the same feeling she got, right before she woke up last time from the dream. Akane realized what these creatures were attempting to do, and something inside her told her that she needed to practice a lot more caution, and that their time was now a bit more limited because of her carelessness.  
  
Keeping her body facing the aligator creature, Akane made a tight loop around it, causing a vortex to form around it, and sucking it from her conciousness. As soon as she had done away with her attacker, Akane sped down the path towards the other end of the carnival, maneuvering through the mandalas that a part of herself insisted that was required. The road lead to a roller coaster that seemed like it would take her partways to the other end.  
  
With barely a thought towards it, Akane flew to the front of the currently departing coaster, and quickly buckled in. Much to her chagrin, the buckle could not be secured, contrary to what it appeared to have done. The coaster jolted immidiately to top speed, and Akane rolled out of her seat, just barely being able to grab the back of the roller coaster's tail car.  
  
She hung on as tightly as she could, as she was pounded by the wind in her face. She flopped like a flag being drug at hyper speeds, and was just as ready to be ripped from its support. The harlequin suddenly found that she could angle herself to ride more smoothly, and reduce a bit more of the resistance against her. The roller coaster seemed to take offense to her hanging on, and it's path became more winding and twisting in attempts to shake her. Akane would have none of that, as she held steadfastly to it with strong determination.  
  
Finally, the roller coaster seemed to have enough of the girls impudence, and turned sharply, sending her flying from the wiplash turn. Akane tumbled head over heels in the air, until her back braced against something. Over her shoulder, she saw a kite against her back. The kite suddenly started flying on it's own accord, giving Akane bery little maneuverability over it. She looked down a ways, to see a ghostly looking figure holding the string that was attached to the kite, and taking her wherever it decided she needed to go.  
  
Akane had to shift herself side to side, back and forth to avoid the balloons rising towards her, since she knew if enough connected with her, the kite's string would snap, and carry her away. She knew if that were to happen, consequences reaching beyond the dream would be dire.  
  
Not too much sooner, up ahead she saw a floating dome, much like the one she saw in her previous dream, exept the glowing sphere in it was a brilliant white. She saw her objective, now she needed to know which other way to go.  
  
The kite she was riding against came to a stop, and started to descend, allowing Akane to pull herself from it. Now she had no idea where to head, and looked around. The pathway was congested to her, yet no one was around. Akane could not comprehend how she was feeling so crowded, but the sensation was becoming clausterphobic to her.  
  
Before the panic could grow, someone, or something caught her eye. The ghostly figure that was flying the kite she was against, was pointing in a direction for her. The harlequin girl nodded to the epheral being with the red shirt, black pants, and pigtail, and flew in the direction it pointed.  
  
Akane soon found herself in front of a towering carnival 'test your strength' guage. She would have, if given the time, tried her luck, but as she looked around, she could not find the mallet that she would have had to use.  
  
"IDIOT!"  
  
Akane quickly spun around, and her eyes widened. Behind her, stood a giant Akane wearing a yellow sundress, glowing with a blue violent aura, and holding a hammer over hear head. Akane sensed a perfume she sometimes wore, acacia, and found it to have signifigant meaning on the warped image of herself.  
  
The harelquin Akane took action, right before the hammer descended upon her, and looped around her double. The other Akane smirked nastily when the vortex did nothing to her, and raised the hammer to strike again. The harlequin was caught uprepeared for a sideways blow, that sent her tumbling in the air...  
_________________________________  
  
Nabiki groaned, and looked at the wall that was between her and her sister's room. Sometimes she wished her sister wasn't such a forceful sleeper.  
_________________________________  
  
NiGHTS Akane regained herself in the air, and took a deep breath, she didn't think she could take any more of those hammerings, but knew she had to somehow subdue her double.  
  
She zoomed back, and rammed her doppleganger, once again yeilding no results. The giant Akane barely missed with her mallet, as the harlequin dashed back out of it's range. NiGHTS Akane came into range of the hammer, and was making a steady circle. The mallet slammed into where she once was, and was caught in the vortex.  
  
NiGHTS Akane was growing fustrated at not being able to get any results; not even her mallet could be directly harmed. She passed around her double, looking for any sign of weakness as the hammer constantly was swung at her.   
  
"JERK! WHY DON'T YOU STAND STILL AND FIGHT?!?" NiGHTS Akane blinked; why hadn't she ever realized how rediculous that sounded before?  
  
After quite a bit of contemplation, it finally came to Akane's attention, that her double was standing between her and the test your strength game, possibly for a reason.  
  
Akane came to a conclusion; the girl was holding the mallet. The harlequin flew right under the giant Akane's swing, and then shot straight up as it came at her sideways. NiGHTS Akane flew down and landed on the lever, and began to make faces at the giant version of her.  
  
The other Akane's expression grew more fierce and redder by several levels, and she raised the mallet high above her head, "DIE YOU JERK!" As the hammer descended, NiGHTS Akane dashed off the leverage, and waited for the other Akane to do her work for her.  
  
The hammer stopped just a foot above the lever, and the other Akane turned around, wagging her finger at her smaller counterpart. The giant just barely missed NiGHTS Akane fly in an arch over her head, and slam into mallet head with as much force as she could muster.  
  
The force of the blow was strong, and metallic cyllinder soared up the meter, and connected heavily with the bell at top, causing it to fall off. The giant Akane looked up with disbelief, and then dropped the hammer and screamed.  
  
The Harliquin watched as the other Akane was squashed under the even more massive bell that didn't seem as large before, and both dissappear in a flash and sparks. In their place, was a set of musical bells that Akane gathered, and then raced off to find the floating dome. Frantically, in the back of her mind, she knew she had almost no time to make it. A few seconds later, she found out the reason why.  
  
"AKANE!" A high pitched, but gender neutral voice cried out, as Akane, in her school outfit, fell from NiGHTS, and tumbled to the ground. She felt no pain as the ground yeilded below her, and she looked up for whoever called to her. By her, lay the bells still, and though she didn't have the clear reason any longer of why she had to get the bells to the dome, she knew it was a vital task.  
  
She picked the musical bells back up, and she heard something ringing that was fast approaching. Winding through the game stands, came a fat phoenix with an alarm bells for eyes, and a clock in its stomach. In its talons, it carried a bucket of water. Akane knew without much thought what that was for, and ran with the bells as fast as she could. She had a vague notion of where to go, but not much more.  
  
She heard another ringing approaching from the fore, and yet another from the side. Akane knew she had to deal with at least one of them, so that she would be in less danger.  
  
The phoenixes all centered onto one spot, and flew there, looking for their prey. To their senses, she was right in that general area; if they had much of a mind, they would be extremely puzzled.  
  
"KIYAAAAA!!!!" Akane cried out, as she let go of the dozen balloons she had gathered on one hand, and while holding onto the musical bells with the other, she descended onto the phoenixes, sending them all crashing onto the ground.  
  
The birds squawked and flapped their wings in order to get airborne, but by the time they managed so, Akane was a good deal out of range.  
_________________________________  
  
Akane turned over in her bed while trying to get more comfortable. The smile she was wearing from earlier in the dream was back, as her dream self listened to a chorus of bells play a private concert for her. 


	7. Ranma's second Dream; 'The Precaution'

Ranma/NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
Ranma's Second Dream; 'The Precaution'  
  
  
  
Ranma flew around the dark building that saught to impede him with a frown. Once he was freed from the parisol, he was immidiately disorientated. This dream was not as vibrant or cheerful as his last one, in fact the whole scene had an air of gaurdedness about it. The landscape of the dream realm was that of a massive city that was barely lit. He would had been rather inhibited, if it were not from the light coming from the mirroring city that was upside down in the 'sky'.  
  
The two cities were linked every so often by skyscrapers that connected between them, seeming to have foundations in both the 'ground' and the 'sky'. Ranma decided to fly closer to the lighted city, and as he ascended, everything reversed on him to where the city in the 'sky' had become the 'ground', and vice versa. Not only that, the lighted city had then became dark, causing it's buildings to seem like they were descending into the abyss that held unknown answers and experiences, while the city that had been dark came alight.  
  
The buildings themselvers were odd, as they were not straight for the most part. They would begin to angle at a sharp ninety degrees, and tightly turn in every direction like a network of plumbing. Ranma flew around them with a casual grace, as he saught his goals.  
  
He flew straight, searching for any clues to the wherabouts of the musical notes he searched for. He had not any clue as to where they could be, unlike previous dream. Before he could despair, he caught a faint tune, coming from below.  
  
Without much more to go on, the harliquin looped, and shot down to the ground. The building foundations seemed to get farther and farther away, but he wasn't intending to meet the ground. It wasn't before long that he found his bounty; a musical note.  
  
He gathered it, and then heard a faint note ahead of him. It didn't take much consideration to realise he needed to 'follow the music'. He flew straight, meandering around the buildings that attempted to impede him, and found a second note near a department store that displayed spatulas, gymnastics tools, and outfits that a certain amorous Amazon tended to wear.  
  
The Harliquin turned around, listening intently for another note, while he idly circled an aggressing enemy without much care. The almost inaudible sound came from his left, and headed towards it. He passed by the Tendou Hotel, and felt nervous as he did so that made him fly that much faster to put some distance between him and that building. He arrived at the note and gathered it. He didn't take long to determine the next location of the note was above him in the inverted city.  
  
He flew straight upwards, weaving through the pipework buildings, and noted that it wasn't the citys that switched places when he got closer to the ceiling, it was him, or rather his perceptions that did. With that in mind, he approached the darkened ground, trying to find the note. He came upon it, and felt a warmth radiating from somewhere near him. He searched around, until he came to the source; the Bank of Akane.  
  
The harliquin smiled wistfully at the building, but decided that he needed to continue his mission. He went along, collecting the musical notes as he heard them. He had to return to the other city to gather the rest, and as he was ascending to the other city, caught sight of Tokyo Tower in the distance. It wasn't quite Tokyo Tower, as it never came to a point, instead would narrow down to its thinnest point that was exactly halfway between the cities, and then widen out into another base that connected with the opposing cityscape. Every note he gathered was leading him towards it. If he had been paying attention, he would have noted that he was being lead around the city in a spiral to gather the notes.  
  
Every so often, he would experience a new emotion, as he passed a building that did not share the particular 'unimportant' sensation most the others did; like how the hospital gave him a feeling of assertiveness that he lacked with many of his aquiantances, while the fortress firing cannonballs at him made him feel a more than slight pang of guilt. He shook off the emotion, and idly dodged the cannonballs hurling towards him, while not realizing their benificial aspects. It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination, and dove into the trainstation that was at the base of the psuedo-Tokyo Tower.  
  
He barely caught the train with the barge for the locomotive by its tail, and was taken with it as it sped down the underground tracks. It came above ground, and the further it took him, the better he began to feel. The streets were no longer dark, as they were now lit by the lights of the train, which seemed to be a catalyst for the street lights along its drive. Musical notes wizzed by, and suddenly would be caught in an imaginary vortex that would drive then to the tail of the train and be gathered by the harliquin hitching a ride.  
  
Suddenly, the speeding train made a quick and tight turn, snapping Ranma into the air. He had little control over his momentum, especially as he was being sent tumbling in the air, but he managed to maneuver himself enough to intercept to floating music notes along the way. he began to descend from the slight arc, and was sent crashing into a modest restaurant hole in the wall.  
  
Slightly chagrinned, he pulled himself up from the base of the serving counter he had landed against, barely missing laying his hand on the seemingly burning grill. The restuarant proprietor cheerfully looked up to greet the new customer.  
  
"So, what would it be, Suga..." Ranma blinked, as the jester figure in a navy blue parka that had triangular tatters cut on it, sporting a familiar face holding a spatula it was just using to scrape up the okonomiyaki it was prepping up for no one in particular. Ranma shrunk back, when he noticed the lack of arms that connected gloved hands holding cooking utensels. After the jester recovered from its shock, it managed to speak in a tinny, echoing version of his childhood friend's voice, "Ra-Ranma?"  
  
He wasn't about to embarrass himself with that 'voice' he now carried in the dream, but he was no less surprised, and wanted to shout out the name of the person he knew was in front of him. Suddenly, the jester became nervous, and looked behind it. Ranma followed Ukyo/Jackal's gaze to the music sheet on the wall behind her.  
  
Ukyo/Jackal's face became set in determination, as she/he pulled out a handfull of throwing spatulas. The Okonomiyaki restuarant suddenly warped into a surreal version of a courtroom, and the wall the blank music sheet was on drew back away into the far distance.  
  
"Ranma, forget about it," Ukyo/Jackal warned menacingly, with an edge of pleading in her/his voice. Ranma began to pout, once he realized his friend was going to oppose him, and moved quickly to fly by her.  
  
The harliquin's opponent was a bit quicker, as it already began to glide backwards, and launch a series of throwing spatulas at Ranma. As they both flew towards the music sheet, the wall it was on kept moving backwards just as fast as they were flying.  
  
"Ranma, please, just forget about it," Ukyo/Jackal pleaded again, while launching another barrage. Ranma despaired at the desperation in his opponent's voice, but knew that it was important that he succeeded in his task. He weaved through the barrage, and pushed himself to move faster.  
  
Ukyo/Jackal's face grew angry, "So, you would throw away our friendship? For what? Do you even know?" Ranma caught the bitterness in Ukyo's voice, but also found the cunning manipulation in Jackal's tone. He pushed forward, ignoring the deep cutting question, focusing on retrieving the music sheet.  
  
"Ranma, if you do this," Ukyo's voice was tightly controlled, though a sob escaped, "Things will be different. We won't be able to go back." Ranma did not know what Ukyo/Jackal was referring to, but he already knew that the consequences of his actions would be irrevocable.  
  
"Ranma..." Jackal began to growl, "You're messing with forces beyond your understanding." Ranma kept flying, but could not get closer, much less ahead, of his advisary. Nor were they coming any closer to the music sheet he desperately saught. The harliquin almost growled, mentally cursing the spatulas thrown at him for impeding his progress.  
  
"Ranma, I love you, please... don't do this to me!"  
  
Tag  
  
Ranma's concentration was shaken, and a spatula found it's mark. Ranma was sent tumbling backwards, being pushed further away from Ukyo/Jackal and the goal. The Harliquin suddenly noted something bizarre, and tossed away the spatula that was as large as his own body away that he had caught in his hands before it struck completely home.  
  
Ukyo sighed in relief, as Ranma turn and fled to the distance. Before a smile graced their face, Ukyo/Jackal sensed a feeling of... apology...  
  
From behind them.  
  
"NO!" a voice that was clearly not Ukyo's shouted out, as their opponent slammed into their back like a bullet. Jackal was pushed forward, dumbfounded on how the harliquin managed to get behind him. As he was jolted, he left behind a transparent Ukyo in his wake; Ranma was spared the distraught expression on her face, as she vanished.  
  
Ranma sighed in hollow triumph over his advisary; he felt that things with Ukyo would now be changed forever. He hoped he hadn't lost his best friend, but what he did had to be done.  
  
"Curse you Ranma," Jackal rasped out, and then shouted in a firmer voice, "Curse YOU... NiGHTS...." With that, he vanished.  
  
Ranma blinked at the discorperation of the red, yellow, and white jester, and saw the music sheet now down the hall from him; somehow managing to change to once again being in front of him. He flew towards it, as the music notes he gathered began to swirl about him. Once he was close enough, they rushed to the sheet, and arranged themselves on their own accord...  
__________________________________  
  
Reala watched, as his associate returned from his defeat with his tail between his legs. It was easily apparent he would fail in the beginning, attempting to use the boy's emotions against him was a weak effort at best. Direct confrontation would be what decides the fate of their plans.  
  
Zmartwan also underestimated the girl, but Reala graciously attributed that to her attentions being divided. He would never think his current maste... current soliciter incompetant, of course! Never!  
  
"Well NiGHTS," Reala said with a feral and menacing, yet haughty cheer in his voice, "I will be the one that deals with both your two chosen. Do not think you can best me this time." 


	8. Third Intermission

Ranma/ NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
  
  
  
"Wow, Akane, you seem a lot better than a couple of days ago," Sayuri commented, drinking from her juice box. Akane turned a bright smile towards her friend, "Hmm? I guess so, I've... gotten a good nights sleep for once."  
  
"Oh, for a moment we thought that Ranma had finally asked you to the prom or something," Yuka joked, earning sharp glances from most of the other girls sitting with her and Akane.  
  
"Oh, he hasn't no," Akane said casually, which managed to redirect all the attention from Yuka, and toward Akane. None of them realized their breath was held, as they watched Akane calmly chew on a piece of tempura. The raven haired girl suddenly noticed the silence, and that attention was on her now, "Huh? Something wrong?"  
  
"I saw Ranma earlier today, for her to be this happy, he should have been in traction," One girl commented.  
  
"Yeah, not a scratch or bruise on him," another girl added.  
  
"Heck, he seemed pretty happy himself!"  
  
Suddenly, a unified conclusion was drawn, and all girls turned to look at Akane with undisguised shock. "Akane, you DIDN'T!"  
  
"Didn't what?" the girl in question asked with a morsel of food just an inch from entering her mouth.  
  
"Did you and Ranma, well, you know..." It took Akane a few moments to understand what the gesture meant, but it was easily figured when she started to blush, and turn away from her slyly grinning friends.  
  
"N-no, I haven't kissed Ranma, or anything."  
  
"Then what is going on between you and Ranma?" Yuka asked, anxious to hear gossip.  
  
"Nothing, come on you guys, cut it out!" Akane argued with a slight studder about her friends getting into her personal business, earning laughs from all around the lunch table. From down the end, Ukyo looked towards Akane with a contemplative expression, before going off to find her fiancee.  
________________________  
  
"Hey Ranma, you're not acting like a whipped puppy anymore," Hiroshi commented, a bit happier to see his friend no longer brooding like he had been for a while. Ranma didn't look extremely happy or anything, but it was a marked improvement over his past attitude. He had been deep in thought most of the day, thinking about how he was going to set things straight with a certain female friend of his. He couldn't really recall last night's dream, but he felt that he need to talk with Ukyo on where they stand. He didn't want to lose her as a friend, but felt if things got too far, he would before she realized it... if that wasn't the case already.  
  
"Huh? Just been thinking about things, that's all," Ranma replied, not even sure of what Hiroshi had said to him.  
  
"So, who you taking?" Daisuke started.  
  
"Taking?" Ranma's confused expression prompted his two male friends  
  
"Yeah, to the prom," Hiroshi helpfully clarified.  
  
"Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, or Kodachi?" Daisuke added.  
  
"Or all four?" they both said in unison, and gave each other a high five.  
  
"Geez, you guys are a bunch of perverts," Ranma retorted without much heat. In fact, he was slightly grinning, which threw both his friends off kilter.  
  
"YOU ARE TAKING THEM ALL OUT!" Daisuke shouted, while pointing at Ranma.  
  
"Gee, you're a braver man than I can ever be, Saotome," Hiroshi stated with a bit of awe.  
  
"Hey, it ain't like that!"  
  
"I hope it's not, Ranma-Honey..."  
  
The three young men paused, and turned to look behind them. "Uh, Ukyo..." Hiroshi greeted nervously, while actually paying more attention to the head of Ukyo's weapon on her back.  
  
"Um, exactly how much did you hear?" Daisuke tentatively asked.  
  
Ukyo smiled sweetly, "Enough for the both of you to start running... NOW," before she could unholster her weapon, Ranma's two friends were off to find somewhere else to spend lunch. Ranma watched Ukyo as she continued to smile and sit down next to him. He noticed that her smile was missing a slight *something* to it, and the was she had referred to him also lacked the same missing presence.  
  
Trying to muster up as much casualness as he could, Ranma greeted his childhood friend, "Sup, Ucchan?"  
  
"Ranchan, I wanted to ask you about the upcoming Prom thing..." Ukyo suddenly looked down, and started to twidle her fingers. She tried to read Ranma's face out of the corner of her eye, but Ranma's own head was turned away.  
  
"Um... y-yeah?" Ranma tensed himself, ready to bolt if things got too uncomfortable. He wanted to clean up things between him and Ukyo, but not over a delicate subject like this.  
  
Ukyo swallowed the last of her fear finally, and looked up at Ranma with a determined expression, "Have you asked Akane to go with you yet? I think she wants to pretty bad, I mean with you."  
  
Ranma shot up to run, and face faulted. He attempted to recover by pulling his face off the ground, and turning to look at Ukyo, "Huh?"  
  
"I think she's been acting pretty upset lately because you haven't asked her yet." Ranma stared at Ukyo, who still wore an expression of cheer on her face. He was studying her to find any hint of strain in her smile, and was hard pressed to find any, not that he was an expert on things like that. It didn't escape his attention that Ukyo kept talking like Akane was the definite choice for him, and that he was definitely going. That last part he hadn't even decided himself yet.  
  
"Uh, h-how do you know she wants to go with me?" Ranma ventured cautiously. Ukyo just smirked, and punched him in the shoulder.  
  
"Just call it women's intuition, Jackass." Ukyo's light smile was contagious, and Ranma found himself wearing one.  
  
"I guess..." Ranma looked down at the lush green grass, not allowing her to see the smile melt from her face, and vice versa, "But, um, what about y-"  
  
"I need to get going before lunch is up, got a few things to get done before returning to class," Ukyo interrupted. She sat up and patted Ranma on the shoulder, "I'll see you around Ranma, okay?"  
  
"Uh, sure, see you around," Ranma replied, puzzled by her abrupt need to depart.  
  
Ukyo walked away, and as she did so, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. She wasn't sure why she brought them to school, but felt the urge to anyway. She removed the cards from the box, and looked at the first card of the deck, the Jack of Spades. The young chef pouted at the card with slight distain, and shoved it somewhere into the rest of the deck. She flipped over the next card, the Queen of Hearts. A lone crystaline tear landed on the heart in the top corner, and slid down across the card.  
________________________  
  
The rest of the school day had passed without event, leaving Ranma and Akane on their walk home to contemplate things. Akane was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even note the various stray glances Ranma was giving her. The pigtailed boy himself wondered what was on the other girl's mind, hoping and fearing both at the same time that it had something to do with him.  
  
Ranma looked around, noting that it was at least a block more before they got to the general area Shampoo would ambush him, and decided that now would be the best of times to ask.  
  
"Hey... Akane?" Ranma's tone was cavalier, which was an impressive feat considering his current inner turmoil.  
  
The girl stopped, and looked at him as if realizing for the first time Ranma was with her, "Uh, yes?" Her blush went unnoticed to Ranma, as he was busy gathering how to ask the question.  
  
"I was, you know, kinda wondering... there's that Prom thing coming up, and, well..." Ranma firmed himself, he had faced a virtual god for her, surely he can face this, "If.. you know.. you'll like to, well... go with me... Imeanifyouwantto... or something..."  
  
Akane blinked, and then smiled towards Ranma in a way that made him gasp. In her smile, he found that *something* that was missing from Ukyo's. But this time it was much more potent; infinitely brighter than any light, impossibly soothing, and completely warming without heat.  
________________________  
  
Reala prepared himself for the upcoming battle. There would be no silly side treks this time for the two; he would present their goals to them outright, and tell them they would have to get past him in order to do so. The sinister harliquin ensured that it would not be an easy thing for either Ranma or Akane to do, as he was taking steps to make it that much more difficult for the two young adults. They had to be forcably stopped, and robbed of what was needed to syphon the magical dream-like energies of Jusenkyo.  
  
To do so, he had to tear Ranma's anchor away, by showing her her flaws. She was conqeuring her dreams, so that route was not working. So, he found another way to do it... with a bit of help, of course. Once that anchor was broken away, the vessel itself would be set adrift in its own misery, after Ranma himself learned that he indeed was not invincible. Convincing him of such was attempted through his dreams of failing against Saffron. Ranma believed he was now discovering the way back to his confidense, and even if he failed to defeat the pigtailed boy and the girl he was infatuated with (which, was a ludicrus assumption itself, he thought), Ranma would ultimately fall at the end because of this. It was something Reala realized, and was pretty sure Zmartwan saw too, but it was best to take precautions as they lay. 


	9. NiGHTS vs Reala

Ranma/ NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
  
  
  
  
NiGHTS found himself over a vast lake surrounded by massive trees that towered so high that only the pale moon in the twighlight sky shown through. Ranma spund around, trying to find his bearings, and found that he couldn't even comprehend what his goal was this time.  
  
"Hello NiGHTS..."  
  
Ranma turned to find a more sinister looking Harlequin floating above him, and dropped down to the waterlevel to gain some distance in case he attacked.  
  
"If you're wandering where the music notes and sheet are, I took the liberty of collecting them for you," Reala smirked towards NiGHTS, "Your task will be all that more simple, all you have to do... is take them from me..."  
___________________________  
  
Akane looked around the lake in the night, confused. She had no idea what she was supposed to do; even that part of her that had known what her tasks always were seemed to not have an inkling of what was to be done now.  
  
"Confused, NiGHTS?" Akane looked ahead of her, to see another harlequin approaching her with a casual glide in the air, "Well, don't be any longer, I have the instrument you're looking for safe. If you want it, you'll just have to... persuade me to give it up..." NiGHTS eyes grew irritated at the rival's mirth at Akane's expense.  
___________________________  
  
Both Nightmarens were skimming their toes over the surface of the lake, sending fine diamonds and dust the color of clean mist in the late dusk spraying in their trails. Ranma was flying backwards, leaning away with his arms dangling; and facing Reala, who had his arms crossed and leaning forward in balance.  
  
"I'll warn you that your chances this time of defeating me are unlikely," Reala started to explain to Ranma/NiGHTS, "We both know I'm much more powerful than you, and you do not have the advantage of a human host this time."  
  
NiGHTS eyes reflected their confusion. "Oh, it wasn't hard to find a way to even things up, Ranma Saotome seems to have his fair share of rivals, and it didn't take much to convince this one of his assistance."  
  
"After all, any chance to fight Ranma is a chance I can't pass up..." Ranma/NiGHT's eyes went wide in realization. Even though they didn't speak, their silence announced their suspicions in volumes.  
  
"Got it in one, Ranma" Ryoga/Reala replied with a fanged grin.  
___________________________  
  
From the surface of the lake, the two rivals started to glide up skywards slowly, "So, Akane you thought that you would gain an advantage over me in dreams? Well, into dreams I would follow you if it meant taking my Ranma back from you."  
  
Akane/NiGHTS looked at Reala confused, trying to place who this may be. Reala seemed to cherish the confusion in their eyes, "Oh? You are having problems figuring out who is my own host? I do have to admit, I probably sound much more intelligent without a language barrier impeding my speech."  
  
Akane/NiGHTS eyes narrowed, "Yes, Akane, I'm here to show you just how inferior you are, and this time, have the descency to stay down!"  
___________________________  
  
On a silent signal, both of them squatted while they were gliding across the water, as if ready to lift off. And in unison, they lifted off in opposite directions; kicking up water in their blast-off. A few seconds later, in the background, a streak of violet was heading on a collision course with a streak of deep crimson. When they met, a brilliant explosion ensued...  
___________________________  
  
Akane/NiGHTS and Shampoo/Reala accellerated into the air, and then both suddenly started to pull away. They looped in opposite directions, and then suddenly shot forward towards each other. Two vortexes formed in the air, just as they passed by each other...  
___________________________  
  
Ranma and Ryoga were locked against each other like two stags trying to overpower each other. They both met force against force, refusing to give any in the air to each other as their hands were locked together.  
  
"Heh, Ranma, you think you'll come out on top of this one?" Reala growled in their lockup, "this fight can go either way, you know? Just like your little battle with Saffron.." Ranma blinked, and the sudden shock given to him allowed Ryoga to get the upper hand. Ranma was sent tumbling in the air after being caught in Ryoga/Reala's vortex. He felt himself almost being sucked from NiGHTS, and knew too many more of those and he'd be pulled from the harlequin, ending their battle.  
  
Ryoga looped back towards Ranma, forcing him to shoot into the air, lest he be rammed. Ranma then shot down to the surface, and turned back towards Ryoga, mustering all the determination he could.  
___________________________  
  
Both Shampoo and Akane were sent tumbling from each other's vortexes, having been caught in each one's as they passed. Akane managed to get her bearings back first, as she darted towards Shampoo, aiming to loop her again. Shampoo glided back, and attempted an under loop, which Akane quickly shanged directions ninety degrees, heading straight down, as Shampoo went straight up. Akane turned and headed left, while Shampoo headed right, and then they both turned towards the other to fly at each other at an angle.Akane attempted to spiral around Shampoo, using her outstretched hand to start the loop, while her feet finished it.  
  
Shampoo arced over the small vortex, and sharply turned back towards Akane, giving chase...  
___________________________  
  
A violet vortex would immidiately follow a crimson one, and vice versa, as Ranma and Ryoga attempted to catch one another in a highly acrobatic aerobattle. Ranma pulled away and down from Ryoga, as Ryoga/Reala attempted to spiral ram Ranma and then loop him. Ryoga sharply turned and followed, right into Ranma's trap, as he sharply bounced off the surface of the water, then turned back up, and then back, forming an almost triangular loop.  
  
Ryoga/Reala tumbled back to their starting point, and growled in a dual voice, "Not bad, Ranma/NiGHTS. But do not think that you'll win this one. There's more at stake than you imagine, and I will show you why it is you will ultimately fail."  
  
Reala shot towards NiGHTS, and Ranma met Ryoga's charge head on. Suddenly their martial arts skills became involved, as they both traded blows with one another in a space of a second, would break away, and then arc back toward each other to begin again.  
  
The third rebound toward each other, Ryoga suddenly pulled away, causing Ranma to overconpensate. As Ranma/NiGHTS attempted to regain his balance, Ryoga looped him again.  
  
Ranma turned himself back upright at his starting point, and turned to glare toward Ryoga. "Heh, you should realize that your victory against Saffron had little to do with your ability, Ranma," Reala sneered, "it had all to do with your luck. Well, now... *I* control all the luck!"  
  
Reala darted down towards NiGHTS, and Ranma quickly darted away. Ryoga couldn't gain any ground on Ranma, and started to grow fustrated. Ranma suddenly made a horizontal loop near the surface of the water, causing a vortex to form, and pull water from the lake into the air. It proved enough of a distraction for Ranma to double back, and loop Ryoga.  
___________________________  
  
They were in a stalemate; as long as Akane kept flying away at high speed, Shampoo couldn't catch up with her. Akane knew this wouldn't do either of them any good, and turned back up. This proved a mistake, as Shampoo suddenly bounded off the surface of the water; turning a shaper angle without losing any of her momentum to ram NiGHTS in the back. Without any bearings in the air, she fell easy prey to Reala.  
  
Shampoo tsked towards Akane who was gaining her bearings back at her starting point, "Honestly, Akane, I don't know what you think he sees in you. You can't cook, you can barely fight, and people told *me* I had a bad temperment." Reala managed Shampoo's usual catty grin, "One more, and you're done."  
  
Akane felt her inadequacies starting to knaw at her determination, but she hardened herself, and flew at Shampoo again. Reala sniffed in distain, and flew towards NiGHTS. Shampoo attempted to ram Akane head on, but the other Harlequin quickly pulled up and turned herself upright. Once in position over Shampoo's back, she lifted off, driving most of her momentum into Reala's back.  
  
Shampoo managed to stop herself before she was plunged into the water, just in time for Akane to take advantage of her redirected attention.  
___________________________  
  
"NiGHTS, you are trying my patience!" Reala shouted, and dashed right into NiGHTS in an tackle in mid air. NiGHTS managed to pull himself from his rival, forcing them to interlock hands. Once again they were both forced into an aerial grapple, but it was apparent that Ryoga had the advantage.  
  
"Now, to finish this..." Reala/Ryoga, while still holding Ranma/NiGHTS hands, began to loop, with their rival being in the center of it. Ranma/NiGHTS realized their plight, and suddenly began to loop in counter-balance. The one who would be the victor would be the one that completed their loop first while their hands were joined, and Ryoga had the head start.  
  
Right before Ryoga completed his loop, Ranma quickly swung his legs back, arcing his body, and completing his loop.  
___________________________  
  
Shampoo seemed to have doubled her determination, almost looping Akane at every turn, attempting to overwhelm her opponent. In Akane's confusion of Shampoo's tactics, she missed her opponent descending down from above her, driving her knees into her back.  
  
"That wasn't very nice, Akane," Shampoo/Reala growled, as they watched their rival plunge into the water's dark depths. All they had to do was wait for Akane/NiGHTS to resurface, and loop her as she came out. Easy victory.  
  
Akane/NIGHTS suddenly shot out of the lake, a stream of water around the violet streak like a jet from a geyser. Shampoo/Reala smiled in victory, and looped the top of the stream, sucking it into a vortex. She missed Akane, who had stopped herself in the air halfway down, smiling in her impending triumph....  
___________________________  
  
Ryoga rolled over, and then sat up. He was back in the guest room on the Unryuu farm. He looked around his location a bit, and then yawned and rested his head back on his pillow.  
  
"Good fight," mumbled, before drifting back to sleep.  
___________________________  
  
"NOOOO!!!!!!!!" Shampoo sat up screaming. She couldn't have been defeated by Akane, she just couldn't have. Off to the side, Cologne watched her Great-Granddaughter. Even Shampoo didn't realize what all truly was at stake during her dream fight, but the Amazon Matriarch knew.  
  
Once Shampoo calmed down, she would tell her heir that they would need to prepare to leave back for China soon.  
___________________________  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo*"  
  
NiGHTS watched as Reala vanished completely into the loop, signaling the harlequin's victory. NiGHTS began to form acrobatics in the air in celebration, when...  
___________________________  
  
Akane turned, and in the distance saw a pigtailed boy performing amazing aerial feats...  
___________________________  
  
Ranma turned, and saw a raven-haired girl celebrating for some unknown reason.  
___________________________  
  
And they awoke to a new morning 


	10. Fourth Intermission

Ranma/NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
  
  
  
  
"Honestly, Ranma," Nodoka chided, "if you'd only made up your mind earlier about this..." Ranma stood, chagrinned, as his mother fitted him for his tuxedo. Tomorrow was the Prom thing that everyone in his school was talking about, based on some western custom. He wasn't sure what the big deal was about it, but if taking Akane to it made her happy...  
  
Happy, that was something he hadn't been able to associate with Akane for a while, but the other day when he decided to ask her; she was already in a good mood, but the question just seemed to raise her above the clouds to soar as if she grew wings. And Akane took him along with her.  
  
His current predicerment, however, had him questioning his previous day's sanity.  
  
"Don't slump, or we'll never get this fitted properly, and don't suck in your stomach so much."  
  
"It's so nice that you've decided to take Akane, but what of the other girls?" Kasumi asked, looking Ranma over cautiously. This was to be a memorable night for her little sister, and if the other fiancees still remained a problem, everything would most assuradly be all for naught.  
  
"Uh, Ucchan wanted me to take Akane... I think," Ranma seemed to puzzle out that theory as he said it, and missed the rather surprised expression on Kasumi's face.  
  
"Oh, that's... nice... of her," Kasumi replied, gaining her bearings, "What were her plans?" Ranma shrugged, gaining him a slap on the back of his head in admonishment from his mother.  
  
"Stand still! I'm almost done. Dear, you're worse than your father was when we were fitting him for a wedding tux..."  
  
"Uh, mom," Ranma approached the subject tenatively, knowing something mispoken would quite easily be mistaken, "About wedding tuxes..."  
  
Nodoka blinked, "I thought you and Akane believed it was too soon?"  
  
"Well, I... WAIT A SEC!"  
  
"Stand still Ranma! You're like a child! I have only a few more measurements to make and it will all be over."  
  
"Wait a sec," Ranma began again, resisting the urge to rub the side of his head where his mother rapped him with the sheath of the Saotome Honor Blade, "It weren't anything about that, we said it is too soon. I just wanted to know why you're going through all this work for my tux, when you already have my measurements from the... well..."  
  
Nodoka hid her smirk; her son, for once, didn't outright deny that him and Akane would not marry, "Well, that one was in haste, since we didn't think you would be, well, that is that you would comprehend the nessessity of the situation."  
  
"Uh huh, riiiiight," Ranma drawled.  
  
"Okay, you can lower your arms now," Nodoka stated, "Anyhow, though I'm not completely familiar with this Prom custom, I do think that this is an important night for both you and Akane. So everything has to be perfect, including your tuxedo."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Now, Kasumi, the corsage you crafted for Ranma...?"  
__________________________________  
  
"No, I REFUSE to let my precious plans go to waste!" Zmartwan almost screeched, as she looked over her underlings with disgust, "All of you have failed to subdue TWO children, FOR the second time!"  
  
"Not that you did so well yourself," Jackal grumbled under his breath.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
Reala snickered as his associate began to studder, "Uh, that is, NiGHTS is powerful enough on his own. With the two brats teaming up with him, it makes the task much more difficult. NiGHTS has been helping them raise their confidence more than we've been able to supress them. We were inadequately prepared for either of them."  
  
Zmartwan didn't miss the unstated accusation, "Indeed, *your* incompotence has not assisted us in the least. The girl retains her idealas, and the boy still feels as if he can do something for her." The would be ruler of Nightopia mused for a sec, though her featureless face didn't show it, "Perhaps, of course, there is yet another way..."  
  
"How so?" Reala asked, at risk of drawing attention to himself.  
  
"Maybe I have been looking towards the wrong avenue on this. Maybe, instead of slowly forcing them to submit so that they could possibly adjust to the strain..."  
  
Reala and Jackal looked towards each other in puzzlement.  
__________________________________  
  
"So, I bet you feel pretty happy with yourself, lil' Sis," Nabiki commented, glancing sideways toward Akane.  
  
"Well, I guess it's not too big a deal, that Ranma asked me and all," Akane looked down towards the dress bag sitting in a third chair at the table of the cafe they were having a snack at after shopping a bit for the outfit after school.  
  
"I see," Nabiki smirked at the smile her younger sister tried to hide. The middle Tendou sister was happy to see her sister this way. Even though that idiot of a fiancee took his sweet time asking her; the return of the cheerful Akane managed to lighten everyone else's mood since the day the youngest Tendou daughter had her breakdown. Nabiki's smirk faded at that memory, and she looked down towards the slice of strawberry cheesecake with a slice of kiwi on top so that she wouldn't meet Akane in the eyes, "Well, at least you're satisfied."  
  
"Yeah," Akane replied, her voice becoming quieter, as she hadn't missed the slightly more somber tone of her sister's voice. The raven-haired girl shook her head slightly, and perked herself up, "And who are you going with?" Akane questioned, eyeing her sister critically.  
  
Nabiki pondered the question a bit, "Well, Bahn and Akira already confirmed, while Kage's working on it. He's supposed to work his father's store that evening, but it looks promising..."  
  
"Wait a minute, THREE guys?" Akane almost bellowed out.  
  
Nabiki simply shrugged, "They all insisted to pay for the whole evening, who am I to pass up a three for one sale?"  
  
"You're shameless, you know that?" Akane shook her head, as she went back to her cheesecake.  
  
"No, just expensive and high maintnance." Akane couldn't resist the giggle. Nabiki finished off her slice of cheesecake, and stood up, "Well, we better hurry, there are these earrings I saw a ways back that would go great with your dress. Plus we still have to find shoes for you."  
__________________________________  
  
"Boy..."  
  
Ranma flinched, and then groaned internally, "Yeah, Pop?"  
  
Genma confronted his son, and looked him square in the eye for a few moments. After those moments were up, he beamed proudly, and slapped his son on the shoulder, "GOOD JOB, MY BOY! It's good to see you finally taking the initiative in your relationship with Akane!"  
  
"Well, somebody had to ask the tomboy out, may as well be her fiancee," Ranma huffed, attempting to sound defensive about the idea. Even if it wasn't his own oblivious father, he would have failed miserably.  
  
"Anyhow, you *better* make sure that this Prom night is a special night for your fiancee. And to make sure of that..." Genma handed Ranma a thin book with the cover, "Saotome secret arts to Making Out."  
  
"Huh? What's thi..." Ranma looked up, and glared at his father, "POP!!!"  
  
"Well, I don't suggest you start with what's on page twelve," Genma commented idly, "it's probably best to take these things slow."  
  
"What? Akane'll KILL ME if I..."  
  
"If you what, Ranma?"  
  
The pigtailed boy jolted at Akane's voice, "Uh, oh, n-nutt'n..."  
  
"Oh," Akane replied, smirking at Ranma's nervousness, "Excuse me, I have to put this up in my room."  
  
Akane made her way by her fiancee, followed by Nabiki. The second girl stopped, as if remembering something, "Oh, and Saotome, if you *do* happen to make it to page twelve..." She handed him a small thin plastic packet, and then winked at him.  
  
"NABIKI!" Akane shouted, embarrassed, despite the coy smile on her face. Nabiki stuck her tongue out at her younger sister, as she followed her up the stairs.  
  
Ranma looked at the package of individually wrapped breathmints, and looked nervously at his dad, "Uh, how long were they standing behind me?"  
  
Genma smiled smugly, "Long enough to see what was on page twelve..."  
__________________________________  
  
Ranma looked around in the dark void, one that reminded him of his previously troubled dreams. A wave of fear rushed through him, until he saw the familiar gazebo that contained NiGHTS. The Harlequin was banging furiously on his prison, and beckoning Ranma to set the Nightmaren free so that they could set about their goal.  
__________________________________  
  
"I'm coming!" Akane shouted out, anxious to get out of the dim swirling and dizzying lights that were from another, more troubling dream. She frantically rushed towards NiGHTS, needing the Nightmaren to free her from the nightmare as the Nightmaren needed her to free him from his prison...  
__________________________________  
  
As soon as Ranma reached in, he found himself jolted back by a tremendous force. It did not hurt him in the least, but it sent him careening away, unable to get his bearings straight.  
__________________________________  
  
The dim lights faded into a nearly solid bluish gray with swirls of light gray haze about it, and soon her trip backwards in the air ended with her landing unceremoniously on yeilding grass.  
__________________________________  
  
"What the...?" Ranma questioned, picking himself up off the ground. The landing didn't hurt him at all, but it left him confused as to what expelled him away from NiGHTS. The pigtailed boy looked around to see where he was at...  
__________________________________  
  
... and she gasped. In the sky hung ripples, like warps in the sky at various angles and placements...  
__________________________________  
  
... more like pools, actually. Bamboo poles stuck out from them from the top or the bottom, the other end that went into the ripple disappeared at the other side. It took a while for Ranma's mind to comprehend it, but...  
__________________________________  
  
The pools, possibly hundreds of them, surrounded by towering mountain peaks. Realizaton fell upon her like an overwhelming tsunami against soft beach sand..  
__________________________________  
  
"Jusenkyo..." Ranma breathed, his eyes wide in shock. 


	11. Growing Wings

Ranma/Nights  
'Into Dreams'  
Growing Wings  
  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
The Pigtailed voice quickly turned to the frantic voice of Akane, and wildly searched the rolling hills in the valley for its source, "Akane? AKANE!!!"  
  
"Ranma? Help me! Ranma!" Her voice was pleading and urgent, and seeming to fade in its desperation.  
  
"AKANE! HOLD ON, I'm COMING!" Ranma hurradly followed the voice, making a point to avoid the pools of water on the ground, and floating in the air.  
  
"Ranma! I need your help! I can't last much longer..."  
  
"JUST HOLD ON, AKANE! PLEASE!" Ranma felt his body become heavy with emotion; once again, he was failing Akane. She needed him, and he wasn't there with her. His mind thought back to Kiima with the curse of drowned Akane; what if someone intended to finish the job? The thought of truly losing Akane, just when he thought he had emotionally found her was nearly unbearable in its pain, hindering him like a dead limb in his pursuit of rescue. He reached the center of the surreal Jusenkyo, and started to climb the hill that stood in it. Akane's pleas seemed to be originating from there, "AKANE! SPEAK TO ME!!!"  
  
"Ra-Ranma..."  
  
Her voice was extremely faint, and that fact caused Ranma to stumble. The hill suddenly seemed steeper, slicker, almost impossible to climb, and Ranma felt the emotional weight increase a hundredfold. He knew he was going to fail her this time.  
_____________________________________  
  
"Wha... what am I doing here?" Akane asked, spinning around and looking at her surroundings.  
  
"Akane? Hey, Akane!"  
  
The raven haired girl's spirits perked at the sound of Ranma's voice, "Ranma? I'm over here, RANMA!" Akane turned in the direction that the voice was coming from, and started to walk towards it.  
  
"Akane, what the heck's tak'n ya so long?"  
  
"I'm hurrying Ranma, geez you're being such a jerk!" the girl huffed, starting to pick up her pace.  
  
"Gee, no wonder you can never lay a hand on me, being so slow."  
  
Akane's eye twitched, "Ranma, are you just *trying* to upset me?"  
  
"I don't need to *try*, Akane, you're pathetic enough to do it yourself..."  
  
Akane faltered in her step, "WHAT WAS THAT?!?"  
  
"You going deaf, too? Oh man, we make a pair, I musta been pretty blind to think I saw something in you."  
  
Akane felt a pit building up in her stomach, "Ra... Ranma."  
  
"What? The little macho tomboy gonna cry?" Akane could feel the remarks slash into her like a sword's strike, as the tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, "Some martial artist you are."  
  
"But... but you asked me... you were..."  
  
"Yeah... well I plead temperary insanity on that one..."  
  
Akane's steps became slower, as her mind began to wander why even bother. He just said he didn't care for her, something she had expected for a time, now. A void began to consume her insides, and slowed her down to lethergy. She eventually reached the center of Jusenkyo, and stared up through bleary eyes to the mountain that appeared there. Ranma's voice came from the top of it.  
  
"Look at you, wussing out from a little hill..."  
  
As emotionally shattered as she was beginning to feel, she wouldn't give Ranma that final satisfaction...  
_____________________________________  
  
If Zmartwan had a face, it would be smiling.  
  
The crystal that floated in space was starting to glow more and more. Ranma's emotional energy was acting as a filter to syphon the much saught after Jusenkyo energy, while Akane's grief acted as a battery to help hasten the transfer of energy. Jackal and Reala stood to the side, observing. The last ditch effort was showing more results than they had expected, and they both smiled, as Nightopia would soon be theirs.  
_____________________________________  
  
Ranma's fingers digged into the sod of the hill, refusing to give up, though he was positive it was too late. He refused to let his tears fall out of sheer fustration and stubbornnes than actual determination. With everything against him, he reached the top of the hill, with a single pool atop it, just in time to see Akane's dainty hand sink below it's rippling surface.  
  
"NOOOOO!!!!!" Ranma nearly screeched, as he dove for the hand. He looked down into it's murky depths, finding no sign that Akane was alive. Ranma was about to dive in, when he realized something; he was sure that Akane was no longer alive, and if he dove in, he would never be cured of his curse.  
  
He would never be able to help anyone  
  
He would be a complete failure in the art.  
  
He would be honorless, friendless...  
  
Hopeless.  
  
With an angry sob, Ranma dove in, willingly thowing away all he held dear for Akane's sake. He continued to plunge down, straight down into its depths, never to rise from it again.  
_____________________________________  
  
Akane made it to the top through sheer stubborn effort; scraping and clawing up the impossible hill that seemed to be made of her every inadequacy she had ever felt. As Ranma's taunts continued, it continued to get higher and harder to scale; slick with tears of her anguish and the sweat of her futile attempts to better herself in the eyes of Ranma. She scrawled to her feet, and saw the pool that she knew Ranma was in. His taunts continued to flow, even as the water she knew was filling his lungs.  
  
"Ha! You may as well start preparing my funeral rites. No way a dead weight like you's gonna save me from drowning!" Akane began to emit a low moan, knowing her swimming skills would not be sufficient to save Ranma. She couldn't swim.  
  
She was slow.  
  
She was unattractive.  
  
She was weak.  
  
She was hopeless.  
  
She felt complete despair wash over her, becoming akin to Ryoga at his lowest moments. She tilted towards the pool with her arms spread, not caring what fate had in store...  
_____________________________________  
  
If Zmartwan had a face, she would have stopped smiling.  
_____________________________________  
  
Like a drop of water, defying gravity and rising from a stalagtite, Ranma burst up from the pool with a shout of sheer joy. He didn't know what happened, he had been descending to the bottomless depths of the pool that Akane was lost in, and suddenly he had burst through to the other side, and found himself penetrating the clouds. He laughed with all the air in his lungs, as he performed barrel rolls in the air, flying without assistance. Without a doubt, it was the most incredible feeling he had ever felt.  
_____________________________________  
  
... there was nothing more exhillarating that the complete freedom Akane felt, gliding through the air, cutting in and out of the wispy clouds that were highlighted by the horizon sun's loving light in orange and pink radiance. All the anguish she had been experiencing vanished suddenly, like endless tons had been poofed away by a master magician...  
_____________________________________  
  
Ranma's cloths flapped in the wind, as he held his arms out as if he were an airplane. He would say the torment he had been feeling was well worth the feeling that now flowed through every iota of his being. He...  
_____________________________________  
  
...brought her hand up to brush a stray piece of hair that was flapped to the fore by the rush of the wind by her. Akane came up with a comparison that was beyond adequate for the emotions that raised her to higher levels than her flight did.  
_____________________________________  
  
To Ranma, it was like growing wings.  
_____________________________________  
  
"NO!" Zmartwan screamed. They were defeated, they had given completely into despair; how is it they overcame? The would be ruler of the land of dreams turned to the yellow glowing crystal that floated in the endless midnight void filled with stars; it had built up a great deal of energy, more than sufficient enough for her tasks. But as those who are ambitious usually find, their greed always hungers for more power.  
_____________________________________  
  
Ranma flew back below the clouds, and found a trail of musical notes. He flew closer, and found them drawn to him like he was a magnet and they were loose ore deposits. Ranma flew, performing acrobatic stunts, as he collected the notes around him. At the end of the note trail, he came to a sheet of music. From him, the notes flew towards the sheet, and settled into their places. Ranma raised his eyebrows as he noted it was only half complete, but shrugged, and continued on his way...  
_____________________________________  
  
After the music notes were absorbed by the violin, it began to play a sweet melody that sang to her heart that made all that she felt even moreso multiplied. On high from the music and her gift of flight, Akane continued on. The trail of current notes brought her through the cloud level again, and her raven hair shined with a blue luster in the light. She looped in a trail of notes, and turned to her left in pursuit of the bits of promising harmony, she saw the bells up ahead of her..  
_____________________________________  
  
And Ranma swooped down to its level, allowing the music notes to precariously float to the sheet music that already had half the music on it. Once it was complete, he heard a chorus of bells along with a violin play in the air. The song was heart wrenchingly beautiful, and he had to force himself to continue on.  
_____________________________________  
  
Akane descended through the candy colored wisps, following a trail of notes through it. She weaved in the air like a kite struck in a Spring gust, and tumbled lower through the air as a sphere of music notes encircled her. She approached the flute, and hovered in the air as the notes merged with the harmonic intrument and began to play. Ahead lay the mountain, where at the top had lay before a living pheonix.  
_____________________________________  
  
Somehow, Ranma knew that Saffron wouldn't be the one that met them at the top. The pigtailed boy ascended it's dizzying heights, while evading bubbles that rose from below and reflected the light of the glorious sun, and weaving trough the springs that hovered in the air. Ranma's confidense was at new heights, beyond anything his false bravado and arrogance ever produced. And without it, he would had never made it to the top of Jusendo.  
_____________________________________  
  
Akane pushed on the barrier that imprisoned NiGHTS on the top of the mountain, but finding it wouldn't give, regardless of her strength. She knew there had to be a way to reach him through the prism that imprisoned the harlequin, but her might alone couldn't budge it. Akane suddenly realized what it was that suddenly gave her strength. As she climbed that mountain of her own agony, she felt the weight was on her shoulders alone, only for her to bare...  
_____________________________________  
  
He had to save everyone, that was his belief in whole. He was the hero everyone looked up to, he couldn't fail. It was too much pressure for one to bare by himself. As he was flying, it felt as if someone was there, halfing his burden for him. No, more than just sharing it, obliviating it. He finally knew...  
_____________________________________  
  
She finally knew...  
_____________________________________  
  
Ranma/Akane were no longer alone.  
  
As Ranma/Akane's body started to fade into view, Akane/Ranma did not bother to turn and acknowlege the one that was there to share their burdens of the world. They simply felt their strength grow together.  
  
In unison, they gave one final push...  
_____________________________________  
  
Ranma and Akane looked down at themselves, finding themselves garbed in the Harlequin's clothing. They looked towards each other, and though the face looking back at them wasn't Ranma or Akane's, they knew anyway. Around them was a space of midnight and stars, each one twinkling like a fine and tiny diamond against dark navy blue velvet. In the distance, lay a large glowing yellow jewel.  
  
"YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING!" a feminine voice shouted. The cry was then followed by a deafening boom, that separated Akane and Ranma. Wraith-like woman with shock red hair shaped like a cone that jutted out from the back of her head, wearing fine velvet burgundy and teal robes towered over them, positioned between the two flying harlequins and the jewel. Without consideration, Ranma and Akane both knew that the jewel was their target, and that only their combined might would win.  
  
Zmartwan waved her hand, and suddenly the air was filled with interlocking helixes like a 3-D fence that extended to all plains. Ranma and Akane weaved between the openings that were wide enough to squeeze through, feeling the charge of remourse flowing through the helixes like electricity through a metal fence. Zmartwan was surprised, as they both passed on opposite sides of her, joined hands, and looped her jewel. A hairline fracture formed on its surface.  
  
"AAAAHHH!!!" She screamed, as she sent a sudden wind into them, pushing them away. Akane and Ranma got their bearings together, and flew againt the howling winds of rejected affection; finding the least resistance in the wind and flowing through it. Once again they overcame the obstacle, and Zmartwan couldn't recover fast enough to stop them from forming a vortex around the crystal again...  
  
In desperation, she raised her arm, causing the jewel and herself to raise into the air. From her vantage point, she rained down sleet and hail of depression. The jewel looked beyond fragile at that moment, and Zmartwan knew that if she could just keep the troublesome brats at bay just long enough, they would wake up, and she would have won...  
  
Neither Akane or Ranma could stand before the hard fall upon them, but as of one mind, they quickly moved towards each other, holding each other tightly. Their power increased further than even two halves of the whole, and the powered through the downpour. Zmartwan gasped, as the two zoomed past her, and above her a brilliant yellow light enveloped the darkness, and Jusenkyo's energies overwhelmed her.  
  
Zmartwan's scream died well before the light did, and Akane and Ranma were left flying by themselves in the space their last battle took place. Like a shimering illusion, the NiGHTS facade melted from them, starting from their heads. Ranma stopped, and turned to Akane, and he knew his smile was as big, and as bright as Akane's. A sight indeed worthy of ending a dream. 


	12. Finale

Ranma/ NiGHTS  
'Into Dreams'  
Finale  
  
  
  
  
Since waking up, Akane and Ranma had not seen each other but for a scant glance, what with the instantanious rush for them and Nabiki to begin preparing for that night. Regardless, the intimate and knowing smile that was taught to them by a mutual friend that had also taught them to fly would be enough to fuel the renewed hunger for one another's presence. Nor Ranma or Akane had ever experienced such a moment of clarity for what they truly wanted and desired in their whole lives, but now since the first rise of the day, they were more than familiar with it; they wore it like a prized possession such as a childhood blanket or a token from the one they loved most. The latter is what it truly was, more valuable than any ring or flower or impossible task...  
  
For nothing held more weight than gold than another's heart.  
  
Ranma fidgited nervously, as his mother worked on his wild hair; never prior having had any attempt to be tamed meant Nodoka had her work cut out for her.  
  
The Saotome matriarch sighed, as she fought with Ranma's unruly bangs, "Honestly, with your father's condition, I would have suspected that he would at least demand you learn proper grooming while you were on the road. Your hair is nearly unmanagable, dear son of mine."  
  
"Ah," Ranma started, "It wasn't as if keeping my hair neat was a high priority at the time, Mom. we..." Ranma was cut off by the ringing of the phone.  
  
"Ranma-kun, it's for you," Kasumi's voice called upstairs. Nodoka breathed, and backed away from her son sitting.  
  
"Go ahead and answer it, Ranma, we have a bit of time to go." Ranma nodded, a bit grateful for the breather himself, and strode downstairs to graciously accept the phone from the eldest Tendou Daughter.  
  
"Sup?"  
  
"[Hey, Ranma, how is everything?]"  
  
The pigtailed boy raised an eyebrow. He hadn't spoken to Ryoga since the failed wedding incident, and wondered why his rival in the art would be calling now, much less with the sanguine tone. Perhaps Akari had managed to do the impossible, and forced Ryoga to lighten up? "Hey, Ryoga, everything's okay here, how're things for you?"  
  
"[Ah, they're pretty good, thanks for asking.]" Ranma's other eyebrow joined the other one in altitude climb.  
  
"Ryoga, you're not dying or anything, are you?"  
  
"[... Why would you say that?]"  
  
"Ah, it's just that... well... something's different with you..." Ranma stumbled out, and was surprised at Ryoga's light hearted chuckle.  
  
"[Heh, I guess. Listen, I know it's been a while, but I was wondering if we could get together sometime and... you know... spar or something?]"  
  
"You mean fight each other?" Ranma asked, guardedly.  
  
Ranma couldn't see Ryoga raise his hand in a peace gesture, but the words stated had the same impact as the visual action, anyhow, "[Heh, no, just sparring. I've been working around the farm here, and hadn't had as much time as before to really practice. You were the only one who kept me in shape, I mean other than the occational bout with Mousse, I mean.]"  
  
"Ah, sure... buddy, anytime," Ranma replied, feeling the bounce that was being barely held back within him become more spry. He then grimaced, "Ah, anytime but today, though. Me and Akane are supposed to be going to the Prom at Furinkan tonight." Ranma then blinked, realizing that Ryoga hadn't even asked about Akane, yet.  
  
"[Prom? That's an American custom, right? That's good. Akari had taken me to her own school's White Day ball. I hope you have fun then.]"  
  
"Uh, thanks!" Ranma replied, still a bit disorientated by the pleasantness of the conversation, "Well... I have to finish getting ready for tonight, I'll catch you later, okay?"  
  
"[Okay, take care, Ranma... OH... and Ranma... thanks.]"  
  
"Thanks? For...?" No answer but the click of a phone being hung up was forthcoming.  
___________________________________  
  
"Okay, Akane, what's with the smirk?" Nabiki asked, as she sat on the bed, idly picking off small stray hairs that were on her sleek deep umber gown for the Prom.  
  
Akane couldn't turn from where her eldest sister was working on her hair, but could see Nabiki's teasing but curious expression in the reflection in the mirror in front of her, "Nothing, just content..."  
  
"Akane, 'just content'?" Nabiki asked, "Most girls would take this as one of the biggest nights of their lives. I would presume you would be more than just 'content', especially since your fiancee is the one taking you."  
  
Akane's smirk grew larger, surprising her sister from the fact that the intended jibe towards Akane about being Ranma's fiancee did not have the expected result, "Yeah, I'm content with things today." Akane was more than content, she felt a completeness before that eluded her prior, even as she could see the answer. Like the final puzzle piece in hand, and staring at the very hole in the picture it belonged to, without realizing completely conciously that there was nothing left but to place it where it belonged. She knew what Ranma had told her at Jusendo, despite his ready denials of his admittance of love. But now, even if he hadn't said it, she knew what she felt for him, and that it was so strong, that Ranma could only reciprocate those same emotions. She knew that she had to complete him, as much as he completed her.  
  
The largest hurdle in their tentative relationship had been overcome, and with that, it seemed as if all other obstacles before them were much to trivial in comparison. The would be easily conquered, as long as they battled it together.  
  
"You're acting weird, even for someone going to their first Prom," Nabiki replied with a guarded tone. Kasumi and Akane just giggled.  
___________________________________  
  
Ranma stood out on the front porch in his tuxedo, waiting for Akane, and idly noted his mother and father approaching him from behind.  
  
"Ah, my dear son looks so manly," Nodoka beamed, causing Ranma to squirm under the scruteny.  
  
"Boy, this day you truly make me proud, taking your fiancee to this Prom. You bring honor to both the Saotome Clan and the Tendou Clan." Genma stated with no little amount of pride.  
  
"Ah... th-thanks..." Ranma replied, turning away so they wouldn't see his blush.  
  
"Son, as handsome as you look at the moment... your outfit seems to be missing a touch..." Nodoka pulled out a red silk hankercheif, and folded it to go into Ranma's vest pocket, "You just do not seem yourself without a touch of red... whoops!" A wayward gust of wind caught the delicate cloth, unfolded it, and carried it away. "Oh dear, I have such butterfingers..." Nodoka stated with a slightly subdued tone.  
  
"Don't worry Mom, I'll get it. Tell Akane if I'm not back to start on without me, I'll meet her on the way!" before any other words could be made, Ranma leapt after the cloth that was gaining a decent head start over him.  
  
"PLEASE DO TRY NOT TO RUIN YOUR TUXEDO, DEAR," Nodoka shouted out after her son. At that moment, Akane and Nabiki came downstairs, eliciting gasps from the others present.  
  
"Oh, Akane, Nabiki, the both of you look simply lovely!"  
  
Akane blushed a bit, and bowed her head, "Thank you, Auntie. Um, where's Ranma?"  
  
"I'm afraid he is off rectifying an error on my behalf, but he had said for you to start on without him, and he would meet you along the way. I trust it wouldn't take him long to finish his task," Nodoka replied.  
  
Akane forced down a pout; she was looking forward to walking with Ranma, "Okay, Auntie. We'll be sure to have pictures done for you while we're there, then."  
  
"I've got that covered," Nabiki added, flashing the camera she had in her purse, "I won't let a single precious moment between them slip."  
  
"I hope that doesn't distract from your own enjoyment," Nodoka answered, turning to towards the open gates, to see three young men carrying flowers, and glaring at one another in challenge.  
  
"Ah..." Nabiki started, turning a slightly nervous glance towards her father, whose eyes were narrowing slightly, "I think I'll manage... somehow." She took off towards the gate before her father decided to make a move, and decide if any of the three boys were good enough for his little girl. Akane giggled, and started after her sister.  
___________________________________  
  
"Lousy hankerchief," Ranma grumbled, once again attempting to snag it, only to have it flutter just out of his grasp. Ranma suddenly hit breaks, as he watched the cloth end up in the hand of one person he didn't want to see tonight.  
  
"Ranma, darling," a fancifully dressed Kodachi voiced with icy dissapproval, "I have been patient in awaiting your forthcoming proposal for me to attend your quaint suarre that no doubt was the brainchild of my brainless father, but my patience is becoming finite."  
  
"Maybe that's because I wasn't intending to go with you, did that ever cross your mind?" Ranma shot back.  
  
"Oh, come now, you honestly would not have me to believe that you truly would settle for that insolent bratling over the beautiful Black Rose? It is to laugh!"  
  
"Inna heartbeat," Ranma replied without hesistation. Kodachi seemed to ignore his response, as she pulled from somewhere a black rose.  
  
"For you, my darling, wear this upon your lapel, so that your garb would be truly complete!" Kodachi idly tossed away the hankercheif she was holding, and approached Ranma with the rose. A flash of metal, and the head of the rose fell to the rooftop, "WHO DARES?!?"  
  
Ukyo stood at ground level, wearing her own tuxedo, holding a couple more throwing spatulas, "I dare pretty easily, sugar. Now you back off from my pal there, or you're gonna get what's com'n to ya!"  
  
"Ah, so the common street vender wishes to challenge her better? This shall be a short, and rather unfulfilling match, but I shall obligate you..." Kodachi replied, "But first..."  
  
"WHOA!" Ranma was forced to flip back away from a barrage of black roses that were thrown at him like darts, a few of them almost managing to snag his tux. He flipped to ground level, and after landing, found his perspective lowered even further. "Great, this was just *bound* to happen," the redhead grumbled, looking at the oversized and wet outfit, and not paying attention to the woman on the second floor of her house apologising profusely for drenchingthe poor girl.   
  
"YOU, THE REDHEADED HARLOT!" Kodachi screeched out, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY DARLING RANMA?!?"  
  
"That-a-way," Ranma-chan said, guilelessly, "If ya hurry, you might catch him... eventually."  
  
"I have not the time to properly deal with you, we shall have a reckoning soon, pigtailed girl!" Kodachi took off in the direction suggested, allowing Ranma to breath a sigh of relief.  
  
"Ranchan, we're gonna have to get you out of that before it ruins..." Ukyo stated with concern. Just then, a lovely girl dressed in a prom gown landed next to Ranma, and kneeled while holding the hankercheif out for him.  
  
"I have retrieved the item of your pursuit, Ranma-sama."  
  
"Ah? Konatsu?"  
  
"Heh, yeah," Ukyo replied, "He cleans up pretty nice for events, don't you think?"  
  
"Um, so he's your date for tonight?"  
  
"Yeah," Ukyo replied with a meloncoly tone, "If I couldn't go with you, I thought that I would at least take a good and close friend."  
  
"Hey! Good goin', Konatsu!" Ranma congradulated.  
  
"Um, thank you for your esteemed praise, Ranma-sama."  
  
"Ranma, we can't dally here. Let's head back to my place, I have a spare tuxedo that should fit you. We can also get you some hot water there."  
  
"Thanks, you're a real pal, Ucchan!"  
___________________________________  
  
"MY TIGRESS!"  
  
Akane's heart sank at the presumptuous and haughty voice that stank of inflated arrogance, "Kunoooo, please, not him.!"  
  
"I have fully prepared for us to share our most magical night of our fleeting youth!" Kuno stood before the group's path, wearing a black Kimono with haori jacket emblazened with his family crest and hakama trousers.  
  
"Kuno... it's like this..." Akane took a deep breath, "I'm *not* going to the prom with you, is that clear?"  
  
"Nonesense, for the very Deities and stars themselves have deemed that we spend this gracious evening within the company of each other. To go against what fate has decreed is to bring tragedy upon our houses of the likes that the immortal bard Shakesbeare could only ima.." A hollow thunk drowned out the last syllable of Kuno's soliloquey.  
  
"Stick boy talk, too, too much," Shampoo commented with an irritated tone, while putting her bonbori mace away.  
  
"Sh-Shampoo?" Akane stepped back, slightly nervous. It wasn't that she wasn't sure she could take the Amazon, as Akane firmly believed in her ability, but Kasumi and Auntie Nodoka worked so hard on the deep navy blue full-length gown she was wearing. Mousse dropped from the rooftop next to Shampoo, and bowed to Akane.  
  
"Akane Tendou, even with my sight as it is, I must say that you are absolutely radiant this evening."  
  
"Um, thank you, Mousse," Akane replied, still standing in defensive. Her sister and her dates had backed away to a safe distance, in case something were to break out.  
  
Fortunately, that wasn't Shampoo's intention, "Shampoo... I want Akane to know, Akane take good care of Ranma, yes?"  
  
A slight confusion settled over Akane, "Pardon?"  
  
"Cologne has decided that we are needed back home," Mousse answered for her, "We are not sure how long we'll be gone, of if we'll even be coming back."  
  
"Ah... so... you're...?" Akane asked tentatively, slowly coming out of defensive, but in a subtle manner.  
  
"Shampoo... I want Akane to treat Ranma too, too good. Can Akane do, and no beat or feed him poison cooking?"  
  
Akane's eye twitched, but before she could answer, Mousse interjected, "Shampoo, you know what your Great Grandmother said about needling her."  
  
Shampoo looked properly chided, "I sorry. Akane... Shampoo know she not always treat Akane fairly. I no want... I do not want... want to have bad feeling with Ranma bride, is okay?"  
  
Nabiki and her dates stood silently, as Akane had been sufficiently surprised by the subdued tone, and the lowered eyes of her rival, "Just... what are you trying to say, Shampoo?"  
  
The Amazon girl stuck her hand out, "Shampoo would like to be Akane friend, if Akane no hate Shampoo too, too much."  
  
Akane allowed a warm smile to cross her face, as she took Shampoo's hand, "I didn't hate you, Shampoo. True, you drove me up the wall at times, but I didn't hate you."  
  
Shampoo looked surprised, "What?"  
  
"Truthfully, I always thought you two would make great friends," Nabiki interjected, earning a nod from Mousse in confirmation.  
  
Shampoo looked to Akane's sister, and back to Mousse, before settling back on Akane. The Chinese girl's smile began to match her new friend's, and her hand firmly gripped more onto Akane's, as confidence began to firm, "Akane nice girl, Sham... I like to be Akane's friend."  
  
Akane pulled Shampoo into a hug, startling her, "Thanks, Shampoo, it would be good to be your friend, too."  
  
Mousse smiled, and then turned away, while clearing his throat, "Well, we have to begin packing, We will see Saotome later then, since he was not here with you.  
  
"Ah..." Akane started, "You know? I think Ranma would appreciate seeing you there, Shampoo, Mousse. Why don't you two come along?"  
  
"We are not students of Furinkan, so I am afraid the invitation does us no good, but thank you for the offer," Mousse replied, diplomatically. Akane grew an impish grin remenicient of a purple garbed harlequin that caused Shampoo to momentarily flinch.  
  
"You know? There isn't a rule against bringing dates that do not attend Furinkan to this Prom..." Akane looked back to her sister, who smirked in confirmation of what was being implied.  
  
"What you mean?" Shampoo asked with a puzzled expression. She was answered, as Akane took the lavender haired girl's arm into hers, and Mousses arm into the other.  
  
Overcoming his surprise first, Mousse spoke up, "But... isn't this a formal ball? What of our clothing?"  
  
"You're both fine," Akane answered, "Now, let's go, and hopefully Ranma will meet us on the way."  
___________________________________  
  
Ranma, Ukyo, and Konatsu arrived at the Prom of a gaudy Hawaiian theme that amazingly managed not to detract from the jovial air, amd found the dancefloor sparcely populated, as most of the students sat along the walls and socialized. He felt a faint dissappointment at not seeing Akane around, but did not let that bring him down, as he kept looking around. From another entrance, Akane, Mousse, and Shampoo arrived.  
  
"I don't see Ranma anywhere," Akane stated with faint despair in her voice. Shampoo picked up on it, and turned to Akane.  
  
"Akane, Ranma like you much. I no.. I do no think he stand you up."  
  
"Shampoo's right," Mousse added, "Do not disheart, for Saotome is tenatious as a force of nature when it comes to your wellbeing."  
  
Akane took some comfort in Mousse's words, "I guess, thanks."  
  
"Akane no have to wait longer," Shampoo said with a tone of emotions that Akane couldn't single out. She turned to the Amazon girl, and followed to where she was pointing.  
  
Just as a new song started playing, a song from a dream that carried promise of love found and kept, a song of bells and violins and flutes playing in perfect, passionate, and heartfelt harmony glided into the air and coated it with a peace and happiness; Akane's eyes met Ranma's across the nearly empty dancefloor. At once, they slowly approached each other to meet at the middle, noticed by just about all attending.  
  
Like two parts that had been perfectly broken apart coming back to the whole, they joined to each other; Ranma's arms encircling Akane's waist, while her hands grasped onto his shoulders. As they seemed to fuse together, The decorated gymnasium seemed to melt away. like paint being chipped away by the fine pieces, and becoming sparkling glitter that fluttered into the air. Brown and brick walls melted into hazy mist, while ceiling became a peaceful blue sky. Plastic Palmtrees shimmered into bamboo poles that jutted from crystalline springs, while A orange-red sun barely climbed over mountains in the distance to spread a pink and orange soft, warm glow across the springs, the underside of the light and fluffy clouds, the largish bubbles that rose from the springs, and the thin wisps of fog that hung about.  
  
Akane rested her head upon Ranma's shoulder as they began to slowly dance; the only ones upon the hill at the center of Jusenkyo, as a sparkling trail that they would have recognized at the glitter that followed them during flight descended down upon them.  
___________________________________  
___________________________________  
  
Toltir twitched on his side and yowled miserably, while 'Foxy' fiddled with getting a syringe into his vein with heavily shaking and seemingly drunken hands.  
  
"ETERNITY CONSUME US ALL, YOU'VE MADE ME A DIABETIC!!!" Fox shouted, injecting himself with insulin.  
  
NiGHTS held back his/her chuckle, as he/she waited for the hosts of the contest to get themselves back in order.  
  
Toltiir pulled himself back together first, and hissed malevolently, "I should gut you like a freshwater trout for that..." The cat then growled to himself, "Not only did you manage to nearly kill us from sugarshock, you duped us!"  
  
Fox's eye's went wide, "Huh? How is that?"  
  
"The Nightmaren wasn't interested in the contest, were you?" NiGHTS made a vague gesture, and then shrugged.  
  
"Then, what was the point?"  
  
"Oh, I guess NiGHTS did have some intrest in the challenge, but for a personal agenda. We can't break down this reality, even if we wanted to. Since it is now pretty vital to how everything is running."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"NiGHTS linked a base reality with an alternate reality. The Nightopia reality was the base one, and Zmartwan was actually making a critical move that would have affected us all in a very negative manner."  
  
"Huh, then shouldn't we be grateful, I mean, regardless of the enormously dangerous amount of WAFF that was forcefed to us?"  
  
"Maybe," Toltiir replied, "but I don't care to be used like that." The cat then turned back to NiGHTS, "Don't think that this will get you a free win, buddy."  
  
NiGHTS shrugged, and smiled disarmingly. With a bow to his/her hosts, the harlequin flew into the air, leaving a trail of promises and dreams fulfilled... and a nausious cat and Fox god... in his/her wake.  
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MERCIFUL GOD! I THINK I LOST A PART OF MY CHERISHED, BLACKENED SOUL IN WRITING THAT!!! I will NEVER write anything THAT WAFFY *EVER* again!!! It hurts, dear lord the immense pain as my manhood has been scarred irreparibly. Anyhow, I'll have the notes later on what the Hell was going on in the Dream chapters, but for now, I gotta go write something dark ^_^ 


End file.
